


The Aftermath of Jaden

by heartbreakerninja



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: AO3 1 Million, Angst, Coma, Duel Monsters, Gen, Pain, inner darkness, inside jadens mind, jadens parents OC
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-02
Updated: 2017-04-18
Packaged: 2017-12-28 05:18:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 51
Words: 45,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/988147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartbreakerninja/pseuds/heartbreakerninja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haou has awaken and is trying to become supreme king once again. Thus causing Jaden to weaken mentally and physically till it puts Jaden in danger of loosing his life. Pain and collapsing into nightmares become an everyday thing for Jaden. As jaden weakens and Haou becomes stronger. How will Jaden save himself? Or will Haou finally get his victory...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1 Don't Worry

**Author's Note:**

> *Disclaimer for story*  
> i dont own any of the characters except jadens parents. all other characters are the property of their creator. this story is just for fun not for profit.
> 
> all rights reserved for the owner and creator of yugioh gx.
> 
> seriously i dont own anything lol if i did it be a lot darker lol

Jaden woke with a start like he had for the past 4 weeks since he and his friends had gotten back from the parallel dimension's trip. He didn't know what was going on. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was thinking it was Haou's fault but that couldn't be since Yubell had said that she would keep him at bay unless Jaden needed him; whatever that meant. Yet she had looked tired then and he knew she was still. The constant dueling and sending people to the stars and then merging with Jaden's soul and then sending everyone home had taken a toll on Yubell's energy levels and she really needed to rest. Since they got back she has been asleep so he hadn't used her in any duels (not that his friends would like that addition much).

Jaden sighed at the thought of his friends. Except for Jesse he kept a slight distance to them afraid that he might hurt them again, which was something he never wanted to do again. Jesse had gone through an evil take over faze like he did so Jesse understood how Jaden felt so Jaden didn't feel a need to keep as much distance between them. Plus Winged Kuriboh would have a fit if he didn't get to see Ruby. As if the thought had called him Winged Kuriboh appeared out of Jaden's deck with worried eyes.

"Koru" Kuriboh asked worriedly in a language only Jaden and Jesse understood.

"Ya it was that dream again, to bad I still don't remember what it's about or why it's been waking me up; Crawlers going to kill me if I fall asleep in his class again."

"Koru, koru, koru, koru."

"I don't know; all I know is its bad, but I can't remember why..."

"Koru"

"I don't know pal it could be Haou but he should be asleep like Yubell."

"Koru, koru, koru."

"Ya I know I miss them too, but I don't want to hurt them again or worry them so this is the only way."

"Koru, koru"

"Don't worry I'm not going to go supreme king anytime soon so don't worry" Jaden says with a little chuckle that was a bit strained. Yawning Jaden starts to close his eyes as Winged Kuriboh settles down beside him. Jaden absently scratches the top of Winged Kuriboh's head, still happy that this power was at least a happy one that he had gained since the whole Yubell incident, as he fell asleep again.


	2. Chapter 2 Haunted Beloved Memories

*mean while in the blue dorm*

Alexis, having not been able to sleep as well, was looking at her computer that held hundreds of pictures of the last 2 ½ years of school that she or others had taken of her and her friends. As she scanned through them, laughing to herself over memories that a couple of the pictures had brought to mind, she came across a picture of Jaden smiling broadly at the camera while pharaoh the cat sat in his arms. It was the picture she had taken after he had saved pharaoh from falling out of a tree and in to the pond. Jaden himself was soaked but was laughing and smiling. Alexis missed that laugh, so carefree and full of life, mixed with innocence and mischief that he was always up to. Before Alexis knew it a tear had fallen down her cheek. Surprised with herself she hastily wiped the tear away.

"Why am I crying? Jaden's fine he's probably sleeping in his dorm room right now." She thought. But she knew why she was crying; even now she hated to admit it. She was crying because Jaden wasn't the same Jaden she had known for the last 2 ½ years. The Jaden she knew now didn't laugh as easily as he use to. The Jaden now hid in his room during free time and always seemed exhausted even after falling asleep in class. The Jaden she knew now kept his distance from his friends. And worst of all Jaden didn't seem as enthusiastic about dueling like he used to be. That's what scared Alexis the most. Jaden and dueling went hand in hand like spell cards and monster cards or, as Jaden had put it once, like ketchup and French fries; one couldn't be without the other.

"Sigh" "maybe I'm overreacting a bit" Alexis thought. Tomorrow was Saturday so they only had 3 half hour classes. After they were over she would go see Jaden and have him duel her. That was the only sure way to see if everything was alright with Jaden. If worst came to worst she would see if Jesse would come with her and hear what he thought about the difference in Jaden. She really missed the old Jaden. The Jaden that made you, no matter who you were, feel special and happy. Jaden just had that power over others. He could instantly make anyone his friend just by dueling and talking with them.

Soon after that revelation Alexis turned off her computer and went to bed. She laughed and groaned when she saw the clock; she was only going to get 3 hours of sleep tonight.


	3. Chapter 3 Good morning Blues

*next morning*

Jesse awoke well rested and ready for the day. As he looked out his window from his bed his pal Ruby showed up. Her 4 purple ears were twitching this way and that as she appeared from his deck looking chipper as always.

"Purie" Ruby chirped from her perch on his bed post by his feet, licking her front paw.

"Morn'in to you to Ruby, hehe. Wow its nice out today, hehe, a great day for a duel don't you think?" Jesse laughed as he stretched and got out of bed.

Just then Winged Kuriboh appeared looking worried which, as Jesse noted, he looked more and more these days.

"What's up Winged Kuriboh, have you come to hang with Ruby; does Jaden know your here?"

"Koru, koru" stated the little flying monster

Jesse's smile slowly faded from his face.

"It happened again huh. I'd wish he'd tell me what's going on in that head of his."

After the 5th night of Jaden being woken up by his mysterious dream Winged Kuriboh had been so worried he went to see Jesse since, other than Chazz, was the only one that could see him and also the one that he knew Jaden trusted the most. His thought was since Jaden was in trouble he should help and this was the only way to help. He had been coming to Jesse every time it happened telling him what happened and how Jaden was holding up; which was becoming more frequent and the news was never good.

"Koru"

"Ya I know but I can't do anything till jay opens up and tells us what's what."

Jesse sighed. Like Alexis he too had noticed a change in Jaden. Though he also knew that they all had changed a little with what had happened, he knew not even Jaden could come out of that totally unscratched. Also like Alexis he saw the same attributes that Jaden usually showed were not totally coming through like they use to, and also like Alexis he missed his best friends laugh. The laugh that could make even the rainiest days look brighter.

Sighing again Jesse got dressed and was about to put his card holster on when someone knocked at his door.

"I wonder who's there." Jesse thought as he went to open his door. To his surprise it was Alexis.

"Hey Alexis what's up?"

"Hey Jesse, I was just wondering if you would come with me to the red dorm after class, I want to duel Jaden but I need to see if you see the same changes in him that I'm seeing."

"I know what you mean, I've seen them to. Something's up in that head of his. Winged Kuriboh has come over here for the past 3 ½ weeks telling me that he's be being woken up by some strange dream but he doesn't remember what it is when he wakes up, all he knows is that it's scary."

"So that means I am seeing something there. No wonder he always looks so exhausted. If this keeps up he's going to collapse."

"Well let's hope that doesn't happen. I think I will come down with you after class. Maybe the 2 of us can shake what's ever on his mind loose."

"Thanks Jesse." Not that she'd tell anyone, but the reason that she had asked Jesse to come with her was because she was slightly afraid of what she see when she saw Jaden. She knew he was putting on a false face when he was in class, trying to hide what he was really feeling and thinking. This she knew was totally unlike Jaden, he was usually so open with his feelings; he wore his heart on his sleeves as the saying goes. Now it was hard to say what emotion he was feeling. Anger, sadness; It sure wasn't happiness that she knew for sure.

"Well we better head on out Alexis or we're going to be late." Jesse said as he strapped on his deck holster and stuffed his duel disk in his bag as he swung it over his shoulder.

For some reason Alexis was giggling and Jesse couldn't figure out why.

"What's so funny?" He said as he looked down and noticed that he had forgotten to put his shoes on.

"Oh, that's what hehe." Jesse laughed.


	4. Chapter 4 Not the same old school day blues

*Sometime later in the last class of the day*

"And so as you can see from this diagram some duel monsters have special effects that can hinder your opponent in some way or in some cases the owner of the card as well. Now can anyone name a card that has an effect that can hinder the opponent of the card owner from using trap cards hmmm? How about you Jaden do you know that answer?" Crawler asked not even looking up from the book he held. Alexis turned to see how Jaden would answer the question. Usually he just made a joke about the answer to get out of answering it.

"Umm Jinzo?" Jaden replied groggily somewhat looking like he was about to collapse as he stood to answer the question, swaying slightly. She could see Syrus, Hassleberry, and Jesse's worried faces as they stood ready to catch him if he did.

"That's correct." Crawler said unaware that Jaden wasn't acting like he usually did in class.

Finally the last bell rang. Alexis tried to get through the other students to where Jaden was just sitting but by the time she got there Syrus, Hassleberry, and Jesse were the only ones there.

"Where did Jaden go?"

"The Sarge. said that he was going to go back to the dorm. I hope he gets some rest I thought I was going to have to catch him when Crawler had him answer that last one." Hassleberry answered with a worried look to the direction of the door.

"Something's wrong I just know it. Jaden didn't even laugh. He always laughs to get out of answering Crawlers question." Syrus wined as he looked like he was about to cry.

Jesse and Alexis looked at each other and nodded in unsaid agreement; it was time they got to the bottom of this and quick before Jaden really got sick or worse...too weak to keep Haou at bay. Alexis shivered at the thought of him returning. She hadn't been there when it happened but from Syrus, Axels, and Jims description she didn't want to.

Speaking of Jim, Alexis hadn't seen him leave and she wandered where he went.

"Hey Syrus, where'd Jim go to; I didn't see him leave?" Alexis asked

"You know I think he did mention saying something about going to see an old friend….you don't think he means Jaden do you?"

"I don't know but Jesse and I are heading that way; you guys coming to?"

"I wish I could but since Hassleberry and I got sick the day of the duel exam Crawler is having us duel each other for a grade which is crazy because I'm going to end up as Dino card food." Syrus wailed.

"Don't worry private, I'll go easy on you so we both wont fail" Hassleberry chuckled. Syrus rolled his eyes.

"Ok guys good luck with the duel, come on Alexis we better get going or Jaden might slip out on us."

Alexis nodded and followed Jesse out the door as they headed for the red dorm.


	5. Chapter 5 Yea do i walk through the valley of the shadows...

*mean while somewhere close to the red dorm*

Jaden was breathing heavily as he slowly made his way to his dorm; he was very close to collapsing. He could hardly walk straight, his vision was slightly blurred and everything was looking wobbly.

"Come on I'm almost to the dorm I can't pass out yet, not till I'm out of sight." Jaden thought, willing his body forward.

His friends thought that he hadn't passed out yet but was close to it; but unbeknownst to them he had pass out a number of times right inside his room after he had locked the door he unwillingly would pass out on the floor and wouldn't wake up till way past lunch time or dinner time depending on when he got out of class. During those times he didn't know what his dream was all he knew was it was different from the one he had at night; but that's all he knew. He also knew that he gained little energy from those times. Little energy that would last till night fall when he was in bed; then the little sleep he gained that night was all that would keep him awake till he fell asleep in class or made it to his room at free time.

Jaden continued on towards the dorm, only stopping when he came to a tall tree to rest a little and to get the world to stand still long enough to get to his room. That's where Jim found him.

He was on his way to find Jaden and see if he could shed some light on to why he was acting so strangely of late. But what he saw was his worst fear. Jaden was weak and looked somewhat skinnier then usual and not at all the happy energetic boy he usually was. The Jaden he saw before him now looked like he was about to collapse; and that was what was causing the panic to start to seep in as he saw his friend barely able to stand let alone walk. How he ever got this far in the condition Jim saw him in now was beyond him.

"Jaden!" Jim called as he ran as fast as he could while carrying a 2 ton alligator on his back.

Jaden turned to see who was calling him; he could just make out the tall figure of his friend Jim running towards him through his now even more blurry eyes.

"Jim?" Jaden said weakly as he tried to turn and face his friend, but the movement was too much for him and with a gasp he started to fall to the ground as darkness enveloped his mind. Before passing out completely he heard Jim scream his name; then he knew no more, only a small laugh from someone deep in his mind and the knowledge of torment yet to come.


	6. Chapter 6 When serenity is lost

*mean while*

Jim couldn't believe his eyes as Jaden began to fall to the ground.

"JADEN!" Jim screamed as he ran to his fallen friend.

Oh no oh no Jaden don't quit on me now. Jim thought as he ran to his friend laying the alligator from his back on the ground so not to spook her as he ran to Jaden's side.

Turning Jaden over he could see to his relief that he was still breathing, just knocked out cold. He also noticed that he WAS a lot skinnier and had purple black bruises under his eyes from exhaustion. On top of that he was shaking slightly as if he was cold, even though it was 75 degrees out and sunny. Jim felt Jaden's skin. Jim's eyes widened even farther when he felt Jaden's skin literally burning hot.

His fever has to be over a hundred to be burning up this bad. Jim thought starting to panic slightly.

"I need to get you inside quick." Jim said panicking even more as he picked Jaden up. There was hardly any weight to him at all!

"When was the last time you ate mate?" Jim said aloud truly panicking now.

He looked back at the school seeing that it was too far way to run and get help; he'd have to take Jaden to his room and hope someone came along and could run and get the nurse; he wasn't going to leave Jaden's side for a minute, not with him in this condition. Then and idea struck him.

"Winged Kuriboh, I know I can't see you but maybe you can hear me. Please go and get Jesse. Jaden's not doing to good and he needs help; go and bring Jesse back here and tell him to hurry." Jim felt foolish asking something that he couldn't see for help, but as he turned to take Jaden inside he thought he heard a soft "koru" behind him. Jim mumbled a quick thanks and carried Jaden in to the dorm while Shirley, the alligator, followed from behind.

*not too far away*

Jesse had a weird feeling that something wasn't right. He couldn't put his finger on it but he had an inkling feeling that it had to do with Jaden; but before he could voice his concerns, Winged Kuriboh appeared in front of Jesse almost causing him to crash in to the pillar beside him.

"Kuriboh wants the matter. Why are you here, you should be with Jaden right now. Jesse exclaimed.

"Koru, koru, koru!" Winged kuriboh literally shouted

Jesse's eyes widened with dread.

"Oh no" he almost whispered, panic literally dripping from his words.

"What? What's wrong?" Alexis exclaimed wishing she could see the little furry spirit that Jaden was always talking to; along with wondering why Jesse was panicking.

Just then Jesse started running towards the red dorm yelling over his shoulder to Alexis as he did, causing her to jump.

"Go get the nurse and chancellor Sheppard, Jim just found Jaden and told Winged Kuriboh to get me. Jaden collapsed and is burning up with a fever and needs help now!" Jesse yelled as he sprinted away from Alexis, whose eyes were now as big as dinner plates, and towards the red dorm.


	7. Chapter 7 Eyes to your soul

*mean while at the red dorm*

Jim did the best he could with what little he had in an attempt to bring down Jaden's fever. Thankfully Syrus had a thermometer and cooling packs in his first aid kit. But to Jim's horror he found that Jaden's temperature was 100.2 degrees and that wasn't going down anytime soon. To try and bring it down he had covered Jaden in a thin cotton blanket and then laid the cooling packs along the blanket on top of Jaden. He then placed a thicker blanket on top of that. At the same time Jim started putting a cool rag over Jaden's eyes trying to bring the fever down. On the up side Jim had found that Jaden wasn't dehydrated which meant that he hadn't thrown up and that was a good sign.

Jaden started to moan and mumble a little as Jim put a new rag over his eyes.

"Jaden, can you hear me?" Jim asked hoping that his friend was waking up.

"Who's there?" Jaden said sounding like he was panicking "please don't hurt me."

"Jaden it's ok your safe; it's me Jim." Jim said not understanding what Jaden was so scared of; who would hurt Jaden?

Jaden apparently not hearing what Jim had said started to panic more.

"Please don't hurt me, don't hurt anyone anymore!" Jaden moaned as he seemingly passed out again as his head fell to the side making the rag slip off his eyes.

"Jaden who's hurting you; Jaden can you hear me; who's hurting you?" Jim exclaimed shaking Jaden slightly to get an answer out of him. He wasn't understanding what or who would ever want to hurt Jaden. He was too sweet of a kid to have many enemies.

The only answer Jim got was the slight opening of Jaden's eyes. Jim almost fell of the stool he was sitting on. One of Jaden's eyes was slightly turning gold. Haou's eye color.


	8. Chapter 8 Principles office

*mean while at duel academy*

Alexis was literally sprinting down the halls getting strange looks from her schoolmates as she did so, not that she cared at the moment. Her only thought was getting help for Jaden and trying not to cry in the process. She slowed down as she reached the nurses door, but no one was in side.

Oh no where is she! Alexis thought not knowing what to do next.

"Alexis what's wrong? Are you looking for the nurse?"

Alexis turned around to see one of her classmates staring at her.

"Yes, do you know where she is?" Alexis asked trying to sound calm.

"Ya she's in Chancellor Sheppard's office, why do.…"

"Sorry got a run, thank you!" Alexis cut in as she ran towards the Chancellor's office.

When she came to the door she didn't even stop to knock, there wasn't time, she barged in breathlessly.

"Alexis what's wrong! You're as pale as a sheet?" the nurse exclaimed coming to her side to try and figure out if she was alright.

"Chancellor Sheppard, nurse, its Jaden; something's wrong. Jim just sent for Jesse and Jesse told me to come get you two." Alexis said while trying to catch her breath.

"Why what's wrong with Jaden?" The Chancellor said as he came over to Alexis, now looking worried.

"I don't know; he's been acting strange lately and then Jim sent a message to Jesse telling him to get you two. Apparently Jaden collapsed and is running a high fever."

"Alexis where's Jaden at?" the nurse asked urgently

He's at the red dorm with Jim, and Jesse is heading there after he told me to go get you two."

"Ok; Chancellor Sheppard you better go with Alexis to go to Jaden while I go back to my office and grab my bag of supplies." The nurse said already headed to the door.

"Come on Alexis we better hurry and see to Jaden" Chancellor Sheppard said as he and Alexis hurried out the door towards the red dorms, hoping to find the best while fearing the worst.


	9. Chapter 9 Bigger problems

*mean while near the red dorm*

Jesse was running as fast as he could as he headed to the red dorm hoping Jaden would be alright.

"Please be ok jay, please don't quit on me now!" Jesse said through clinched teeth as he ran. When he came to the dorm he saw that Shirley Jim's alligator was outside; which wasn't normal. Jaden sick or not Jim always kept Shirley close by. Jesse began to panic as he came to a stop at the door trying not to trip over the agitated alligator; he was shaking so bad he could hardly open the door.

Come on Jesse, Jaden needs you. Clenching his teeth Jesse steeled himself and opened the door to Jaden's room.

As he came in he saw Jim sitting on a stool next to Jaden's bed with his head in his hands. Jesse's heart sunk. No pleas no, please don't be dead, Jesse thought as he came in to the room.

Jim looked up when he saw Jesse. Jesse could see the eye of Oricalcome glowing underneath its bandages.

"Jim what's wrong? He isn't… he's still…" Jesse stumbled over the words trying to put his fears into the words he didn't want to say as he looked from Jaden and back to Jim.

"Don't worry Jess he's still alive. Barely but alive, but that's not our biggest problem. Jim said as he started pulling the bandages off his right eye.

Jesse was relieved that Jaden was alive but wasn't getting where Jim was going with his last statement or why he was bringing out the eye of Oricalcome.

"What do you mean not our biggest problem? Jim what's wrong with Jaden?" Jesse asked panic starting to return as Jim stood up and came over to him.

"Jesse I think the reason Jaden has been so weak and worn out lately is because Haou is somehow steeling Jaden's energy when he sleeps; and I don't think this is the first time Jaden's collapsed like this either." Jim said as he looked over at Jaden with fear in his eyes.

"I think he's trying a different tactic of getting control over Jaden. This time through utter exhaustion; though I can't be sure till I get a look inside his head and have a look for myself. I don't think he was trying to cause Jaden to get sick though but he may try to use it to his advantage if we don't stop it from happening." Jim said as he looked back at Jesse, his right eye burning red.

"Jesse if I don't do something quick we may lose Jaden to the darkness forever."


	10. Chapter 10 It would be all too simple

*mean while*

Inside Jaden's mind Jaden was cowering in the deepest part of his subconscious. When he was asleep he could remember everything that he couldn't when he was awake. Of course Haou was taking advantage of this fact to torment Jaden into submission.

"Jaden, Jaden; where are you Jaden? Jaden you can't hide from me long, I am a part of you so it won't take me long to find you especially now that you are in such a weakened state." Haou taunted from somewhere else in his mind.

Haou knew all of Jaden's fears and weakness and knew that in the recesses of his mind that this was where he, Haou, could make him feel alone and abandoned; all he had to do was show Jaden the right nightmares and the occasional dark memory, and he would have Jaden pushing himself farther and farther into his subconscious. Of course that's what Haou was trying to do. Once he had Jaden where he wanted him he would trap him there; just as he did before and then he would retake control of his body and would become the all powerful supreme king once again and there was nothing at all anyone could do about it. Haou knew not even Yubell had the strength to stop him. For if she tried to help his lighter half he would trap her in the farthest recesses of his mind, as far away from Jaden as possible. Besides, Yubell was his anyway.

Haou smiled at this thought as he finally had pinpointed Jaden's location. He was hiding in an old memory. It was the one where he had first met Winged Kuriboh, and was also the day he was on his way to duel academy tryouts. Haou sneered at the memory. He hated that furry winged tennis ball. It was always keeping Jaden's sprits up when he was trying to smash them down. But for once he was able to keep Kuriboh from entering Jaden's mind and ruining his plans.

"Hehe, now to torment Jaden into a corner that no one will be able to reach to pull him out." Haou thought as he headed into Jaden's memory. He found Jaden looking like he had totally forgotten why he had been hiding in that memory in the first place as he watched himself become friends with Winged Kuriboh. This was Haou chance to strike.

"Oh Jaden look at what's happened, you loved Kuriboh but where is he now? Oh Jaden it looks like he had abandoned you, just like everyone else." Under Haou's prompting the memory faded and a nightmare appeared before Jaden; one where he was very much alone in and forgotten.

"NO! Please don't leave me! Jesse! Alexis! Winged Kuriboh; please don't leave me alone; it hurts too much please I'm sorry! Please make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!" Jaden cried as he crumbled to the ground, tears streaming down his face as his eyes flickered in an out from the desolate bronze color that Haou was trying to get them to go back to. This was Haou's chance to strike it home as he came up behind the now shaking boy as he cried in agony on the ground.

"Don't worry Jaden" Haou said as he put his hand on Jaden's shoulder. "Don't worry I won't leave you, I've always been with you Jaden; just go to sleep and I'll make it all go away. You'll never have to feel pain again." Haou said as tantalizing as possible. He could tell Jaden was close to giving in; with a little more prompting Jaden would be his, and then very soon the world would follow. It would be all too simple.


	11. Chapter 11 Fear is in your eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone heartbreakerninja here! Well I hope you liked the first 10 chapters. I wanted to wait to see if it got any viewers and surprisingly i got 4 hits already :D so we'll see how it looks from here on out. the story isnt finished quite yet so far I have close to 53 chapters all together so far and will update as much as I can. So heres the next chapter hope you like it

*mean while*

Jesse had slumped against the door sliding to the floor as the shocked settled in. Try as he might he couldn't shake the panic as it flowed in to his system causing him to hyperventilate.

This could not be happening; not again, not after they had made it safely home, not after Jaden was finally starting to get over what had happened. Not after he, himself was finally getting over what had happened.

"Jesse snap out of it mate! Don't you quit on me now! Jaden needs us to keep it together!" Jim exclaimed snapping Jesse out of his hyperventilated state.

"Sorry Jim, I just wasn't expecting this." Jesse said as Jim helped him to his feet, his legs still shaking as he leaned against the door still breathing hard.

"It's alright I about did the same thing when I saw one of his eyes partially gold" Jim said as he lifted the rag from Jaden's face to show Jesse the now glowing gold color eye. Jesse gasped at the sight of his friend's eye not looking at all like Jaden's usual chocolate brown eye.

"I thought you said it was only partially gold!" Jesse exclaimed panicking once again.

"It was about 10 min. before you showed up but it's been slowly changing as time has gone on. Whatever Haou is doing to Jaden while he's unconscious is working and fast." Jim said as he put another cold rag on Jaden's feverish skin; covering his glowing gold eye.

"Unfortunately I don't think Jaden is able to put up much of a fight because of being this badly ill. On top of that I think Haou's been at this for awhile; you don't become that skinny and that exhausted in a week." Jim said. As Jim said this it all clicked into place for Jesse. The reason Jaden was so exhausted; the paleness, the dreams, it all made sense now. What Kuriboh had been worried about was Haou taking over!

"Jim I think this has been going on for exactly 4 weeks; if not since we got back." Jesse said as he slowly made his way over to sit at the end of Jaden's bed, watching Jaden's labored breathing as he recollected on the past few weeks.

"How do you reckon that Jesse?" Jim asked puzzled. So Jesse told Jim how winged Kuriboh was coming to him to tell him about Jaden's dreams and how he was doing. Then told how Alexis and the others were seeing him acting strangely as well. Jim listened and didn't like what he was hearing. Jaden was literally in a waking and unwaking nightmare and he as a friend, and the owner of the eye of Oricalcome, he hadn't been able to know what was wrong; and that was not settling well for him.

As Jim contemplated what Jesse had told him, Jaden started to stir. Jesse was the first to notice.

"Jaden! Jay can you hear me?" Jesse said hopeful that this meant that Jaden might pull through this in one piece. Jim came up and sat on the stool and took the cloth off of Jaden's face, hoping that he would recognize them quicker and not have to go through the panic like before. Jaden moaned and mumbled something that neither Jesse nor Jim were able to hear.

"Jaden can you hear me, come on mate please say something. It me Jim and Jesse." Jim said trying to get a response.

Jaden opened his eyes partially, the gold eye sending shivers down Jesse's spine.

"Please don't hurt me, don't let it happen again" Jaden said weakly not really seeing.

"I don't think he's fully conscious Jess." Jim said as he touched Jaden's boney shoulder. Jaden jumped slightly at the touch.

"Jaden who's hurting you; can you tell us? Is it Haou?" Jesse asked leaning in to trying to hear what Jaden was still mumbling; it almost sounded as if he was talking to someone else.

Just then Alexis and Chancellor Sheppard barged in looking out of breath.

"JADEN!" Alexis yelled as she ran into the room and knelt by Jaden's bed; tears were starting to fall from her eyes as she took his feverish hand. Jim had recovered Jaden's eyes before Alexis could see the gold that was now starting to seep in to his other eye. He didn't want to put her into shock before he got all of what he and Jesse knew explained. Even then the outcome of that discussion would still be shocking to say the least. Jim shook his head in irritation then sighed as he looked at the people in the room around him; stopping at Jaden then Alexis last. This was not going to be easy; not in the least.


	12. Chapter 12 Can you hear me? Can I make it all right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> note at the end.

Alexis was horrified. Jaden was so pale, and so skinny that she was surprised that he had made it this far without being hospitalized. Alexis lost in her own thoughts didn't see as the nurse ran in. she jumped when Jim put his arm on her shoulder before he steered her in the direction of the stool so that the nurse could examine Jaden's condition.

The nurse turned to Jim as she pulled out items in her bag.

"I'll need you to fill me in on his condition before I arrived, Jim, since you were the one to find him like this."

Jim really didn't know how to explain it so he just told them how it was.

"Well I noticed that he hadn't been acting the same for a couple of weeks so I decided that after class today that I would ask him myself. When I got near the dorm I noticed Jaden looking wobbly leaned up against a tree. But when I called out to him he didn't even have the strength to fully turnaround he just collapsed in front of me."

The nurse nodded at this while she checked Jaden's pulse.

"Then what happened?" She asked.

"Then I picked up Jaden and noticed he was very skinny and felt like he had a really high fever; he was also breathing heavy. So I brought him inside and placed him on the bed. Syrus has a large first aid kit in his drawer so I used the thermometer in it and saw that his temperature was way over a hundred; so I used the cooling packs to try and bring it down. It really hasn't gone down at all." Jim looked over at Jaden wishing that he wasn't the one looking so sick and vulnerable; that Jaden was somewhere on the grounds doing what he did best. Dueling and laughing. Jim missed Jaden being the hyper active kid he used to be. Full of life, energy, happy, and kind nature that made it easy for him to make friends and get other people to start smiling with him or laughing. It just wasn't Jaden without that contagious goofy smile that he always had on his face no matter if it was a duel or just messing around with friends or in class even. Suddenly again Jaden stirred as if Jim's thoughts alone had been heard.

"Jaden; can you hear me? What's wrong, does anything hurt or not feel right." The nurse asked as Jaden began to shiver uncontrollably, while tossing and turning throwing his hands in the air as if to fight someone off. Concerned the nurse grabbed his arms and tried to hold Jaden still so he didn't hurt himself or someone around him.

"Jim help me hold Jaden still before he hurts himself." The nurse said struggling to keep the sick boy in one place as he struggled against her.

Jesse moved off the end of the bed so that Jim could sit there and grab Jaden's arms as he to struggled to keep him in one place so that the nurse could finish her examination.

Jaden moaned something unintelligible as he fought against Jim who held Jaden's arms down firmly so that he didn't move too much. Thankfully Jaden wasn't kicking or this would have gotten real interesting real quick. Then as suddenly as he had started he stopped. Then rolled over the side and threw up.

This is a nightmare Jim thought as he tried to keep Jaden's hair out of the way as he hacked up more chunks of whatever was in his stomach; which surprised Jim because he didn't think he had anything in his stomach with how skinny he looked. Jaden heaved up what was left in his stomach and then collapsed against the side of the bed breathing even heavier than he had been previous to him throwing up.

"Help me role him on his side and prop some pillows and blankets behind him to keep him up. This way if this happens again it won't choke him if we don't catch him in time." The nurse said as she started grabbing stuff out of the closet and on the other beds.

"I'll go get a mop and bucket to clean this up and another one just in case he gets sick again." Alexis said as she stood up and went out the door to get to the utility closet on the lower floor of the dorms. Slightly glad to leave the room as tears started to fall down her face.

Jim nodded as he moved and maneuvered the pillows and blankets up against Jaden.

Just then Jaden opened his eyes slightly, and to Jim's relief they had regained their chocolate brown color.

Good, thought Jim. That means he's fighting and hanging on. But whatever was going on in his head was anyone's guess. Jim turned his head toward Jesse seeing that he had also seen that Jaden's eyes looked normal as well.

Jim let go of Jaden's arms now that he had stopped fighting him and was again back to his unconscious state. As soon as everything calmed down a bit he was going to take a look in Jaden's mind to see what was going on; and then try and get Jaden back to normal.

It seemed to him that Jaden was trying to regain consciousness but either he was too sick to fully come to long enough to find out what was wrong or something or someone was keeping him from coming around. Either way he was going to save Jaden; even if it was the last thing he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there heartbreakerninja here. :D
> 
> Hope you're enjoying the story so far. I thought that i could give you a little insight about my story.
> 
> I'm basing the entire fanfic on the end of season 3. So every so often you'll see little bits of season 3 thrown in there. It's also before season 4 started. It's kind of before school ended in season 3 so it's before Jaden goes all emo on us. [Though he was a cool emo lol] hope that clears up some of the confusion. Hopefully it didn't create more. If you have any questions ask me I'll try my best to answer them [but no questions on the plot that's a secret lol ;) ]


	13. Chapter 13 Sleep in Darkness

*Just before the last chapter. In Jaden's mind*

Jaden was lost. Lost inside Haou's world of staggering pain and clutching horror. He felt like he had been there for days if not months, when in reality it had only been hours. Hours in the dark endless space with nothing but Haou's voice and cold golden yellow eyes in and around the mirrors that were starting to form around him. Every time Jaden looked up from the ball he had crumbled into, shaking and choking, painfully sobbing; his eyes were what Jaden saw. His choked sobs were like music to Haou's ears. His eyes staying more bronze yellow gold then chocolate brown as more time started to pass.

"Sleep in the darkness Jaden; no one can help you; no one wants to help you." Haou said as he circled the distraught boy; as much from in the mirrors as he was solidified roaming slowly around Jaden's shaking form. His feet only inches from touching Jaden as he circled.

"Sleep in the darkness; no one can help me..." Jaden echoed in a toneless flat voice; the life in his voice draining away as the brown in his eyes was starting to stay Haou's desolate eye color. The color of nothingness, the color of pain. The color of all that Jaden could not be but all that Haou was.

"I am your only friend Jaden; I am here to keep you safe. Let me take control; let me ease the pain of what plagues you from this life. From those that will hurt you once again." Haou whispered in Jaden's ear as he stooped down by Jaden's head; brushing Jaden's hair from his eyes pretending to sooth the young fragile boy before him. Knowing that Jaden was so close to giving him control once again. Just like before when the weight of Jaden's wrongly chosen paths was too much for him to carry anymore. When all those around him had left Jaden in the dark; it was Haou that showed him how to lose himself in the pain of it all. How to let Haou take control of his mind and Jaden's body was only the vessel, a mere shell for Haou to use to inhabit. For him to become the almighty ruler of the world. The Supreme King.

But from Haou's words something flickered in Jaden. Something Haou didn't expect. It was a memory from back in the other dimension; something one of his friends had said while Haou had taken control the first time. It was what Jim had said during the battle where Jim had fought Haou. One of the only things that had somehow made it through the shadows and darkness that had held Jaden in their grip. Something that had almost given him the strength to free himself from Haou the first time.

*flash back*

Jim stood before the supreme king just after entering into his mind to find Jaden crying in the guilt of what had become of his friends. He knew he had to help Jaden. The poor kid was confused and was believing what Haou was telling him.

"I know you can hear me Jaden, so listen up. Don't give in! Just keep fighting and together we can make things right again! It won't be easy, but you got us!"

Then he attacked with his skull knight to try and knock Haou out of the way and to shed light on Jaden.

"Jaden!" You have to fight him! You have to want to be free! Come on pal!" Jim yelled hoping to get through to his friend.

And for a second Jaden was free from Haou's control. Only to see Haou sweep back over him; knocking Jaden back into the darkness and the despair.

Jim didn't know what to think then but he knew he had to try; and try he did.

*end of flash back*

Jaden had almost forgotten about that time. He had been trying so hard to push the horrible memories of the other dimension away that he didn't notice that he was also pushing away the memories that could get him out of this mess. Memories of his friends that were there trying to save him.

Jaden made a few realizations through his still clouded and scattered mind. One he had to see if his friends had really all left him; two he had to somehow get out of his own mind long enough to see them; and three...Jaden's mind was still too clouded and fuzzy to remember what ever three was.

Haou was too busy in his own thoughts to notice that Jaden wasn't sobbing as painfully as he was before just sniffling as he tried to wake up from the nightmare he was being held in. This wasn't easy; as Haou's painful images were still projecting themselves in front of Jaden. But he was able to become conscious far enough to just see under his very heavy eyelids. What he saw was blurry but still clear enough to see Jesse at the end of his bed; and Jim who was slightly glowing red on one side standing beside him; and Alexis crying; and even the nurse.

Jaden tried to move or make a sound but Haou had finally noticed that his captive wasn't so captured anymore. As Jaden began to fade from Haou's nightmare Haou lunged for him before he escaped to a more cheerful place in his mind.

"Oh no you don't!" Haou examined as he pulled the startled Jaden back towards him, Jaden yelp in surprise. The force of Haou's angry pull caused Jaden to crash through a few of the mirrors that were projecting echoes of some of Jaden's past horrors as he tumbled behind the very ticked off Haou. With a few of the mirrors gone Jaden's mind was a little less clouded giving him some of his strength back; but not enough to help him fight off the more powerful Haou as he lunged again for Jaden, landing slightly on top of him as he tried to pin down the struggling boy.

"Jaden you know you cannot resist me! I am the only one who knows the real you! The dark you, full of pain and anguish! Those mortals out there aren't worried about you! What you saw was only a hopeful dream; it wasn't real!" Haou yelled as he fought with Jaden, crashing through a few more mirrors as they rolled across the floor.

Haou's comment took Jaden by surprise so much that it caused him to slightly hesitate and loosen his arms that he was using to push down on Haou's arms. Haou noticed and took the advantage by pushing Jaden back under him hard enough to make Jaden feel nauseous. Haou knew Jaden was still too sick to really put up a good enough fight to overpower him, and before Jaden had time to react Haou showed him what he wanted Jaden to think he saw when he was almost conscious. His friends laughing at Jaden's plight.

"NOOOOOOO!" Jaden screamed startling Haou enough that Jaden was able to push him away and start running. Jaden didn't get very far. Still being sick he collapse a few feet away too tired and weak to run or fight any farther. He became conscious again but only long enough to get sick, and for Jim and Jesse to see that his eyes were once again his normal chocolate brown. Then he fell into his own darkened mind again.

Haou had lost this battle. But that didn't mean he was anywhere close to giving up. Not in the slightest.


	14. Chapter 14 Let the games begin

*Soon after that*

Haou was Fuming as he paced heavily around the dark space that he had, not just seconds before, held Jaden captive in. So close to regaining control, yet he had let victory slip through his fingers as Jaden escaped from his grasp.

"I won't let this happen again!" Haou angrily yelled as he paced the dark room passing by the few remaining nightmare mirrors. Some of which were still echoing some of Jaden's worst fears, only they seemed themselves clouded and distant as if they were confused of why the one that was supposed to be looking into them was no longer there. A few of the mirrors were completely black while others were clear as crystal, portraying that Jaden either no longer recognized them as fears or was pretending that they no longer existed. Yet they all seemed to be reflecting Haou himself as he passed by them; his own angry gold yellow eyes staring back at him as he passed.

As Haou turned to pace the other direction his boot crunch across the remains of the broken mirrors that Jaden had tumbled through. Haou angrily kicked a large shard off into the endless black dark space before him.

"This is impossible! No hope should have been left; not a single ray of light should have been able to pierce into Jaden's darkened mind! Not even memories I hadn't put in myself should have surfaced! So how did he do it? How was he able to break away from the darkness and how was he able to break the mirrors? Only I should have been able to break them! Only..." Haou stopped his rant for a second when a thought came to him. There was one other who could create and destroy the mirrors. Only one other could send Jaden the unanticipated memories.

Haou gritted his teeth as that one person came to mind.

"Yubell..." Haou hissed through his teeth. Filled with anger Haou punch a mirror straight through the middle causing it to rain shards around him. Jaden's guardian was no longer sleeping. Yubell had awaken and seemed to be back to her usual games.

"So where are you hiding him?" Haou muttered to himself knowing if she wanted Yubell could hear him quite clearly no matter how low he muttered.

"Don't think you can hide him from me for long Yubell." Haou sneered as he stared into one of the darkened mirrors; his own cold golden yellow eyes staring angrily back at him. Haou rested his hand against the mirror as a reflection of Jaden appeared before him. "We are two sides of the same soul; I will find him no matter where you hide him." Haou said as he almost seemed to melt into the mirror, as the other mirrors around him started to break apart and shatter, flinging shards in every direction. A few even cutting into Haou's cheek and hands. He didn't even wince as his blood began to trickle slowly from the wounds. "I will find him." And with that Haou left the darkened space in search of his other half.

"Let the games begin." Is all that echoed around the space as he dissolved into the last mirror, his cold laughter still echoing behind him.


	15. Chapter 15 Suspended

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short chapter sorry

*Somewhere else in Jaden's darkened mind*

As confusing as it may sound Jaden was sleeping both outside of his mind and in his mind. Yubel, though he didn’t know it, had brought him when he had collapse just outside of Haou's nightmare mirrors to a deeper place in his mind; far away from Haou. There he lay in a suspended state. Not exactly floating but not laying down on anything solid. Yubel floated close by, an expression of deep concern was on her face as she watched Jaden as he lay showing a lot of signs of how feverish he really was. Though she wished there was, there was nothing she could do but wait till Jaden's fever ran its course and went away. Jaden was in no shape to be having to deal with Haou right now and neither was she. Yubel was still very tired and should have slept longer but the onslaught of Haou's mental attack on Jaden had brought her out early to guard Jaden from the new danger that he was facing.

"Hurry and awaken Jaden I can’t do this on my own. Your mind is too darkened for me to be able to fully help. Clear out the shadows of fear and doubt Jaden." Yubel whispered to Jaden as his limp body floating almost completely still. Only his heavy breathing showed that there were still signs of life.

Yubel knew that for right now Jaden was safe because Haou would not be able to find where he was with him unconscious in his mind. But as soon as Jaden awakened Haou would slowly be able to sense in which direction Jaden was. Until Jaden could become either fully conscious to be aware of what was going on outside of his own mind or at least conscious on the inside of his mind Yubel was going to have to keep moving him. Once he became awake she would help him clear away as much of the darkness as possible. 

Jaden was not of darkness, he belonged in the light. He would not survive long in the darkness. That, she knew, was one of the reasons why Haou had come to become part of Jaden. While Jaden was fully of light Haou was the opposite; he was fully of darkness; and since one can’t be just of either light or just darkness Haou was there to fill in the space. And that’s why she became Jaden's guardian, to help keep the balance.

Jaden was starting to stir slightly, not enough to awaken but enough to show that he was ok and would soon be able to open his eyes. Yubel let out a sigh of relief. For some reason she now thought that that was a sign that everything was going to be alright; if not now, very very soon it would be.


	16. Chapter 16 Fear and doubt

*Mean while just outside Jaden's dorm room*

Alexis was scared; scarder then she had ever been. More scared then when they faced the Shadow Riders, more scared then the first and second time against the sacred beast cards, and still even more scared then she was in the other dimension. Of course to be fair this was a different type of scared all together but still this, this....Alexis shook her head as fresh tears started to fall. This was an epic nightmare worse than any she had ever seen when sleeping. 

While she had cleaned up the mess Jim and Jesse told them about what they thought Haou was up to this time. And when it came to Haou her blood had turn to ice just hearing his name. Jaden’s alter ego. The other personality that inhabited Jaden's mind.

It wasn't like Jaden had a split personality, but yet it was also like he did. In a creepy, scary, wish she didn’t think of it, kind of way it made sense. Jaden was an innocent, unselfish, naive, goofy, sweet, kind and generous, not a bad bone in his body, heroic kind of person. While Haou, on the other hand, was the total opposite; a greedy, evil, serious, selfish, almost non emotional, bad to the bone kind of person. Something she knew Jaden could never be. Jaden had so much goodness about him she guessed there would have to be an evil side to him to balance him out; even if it was in the form of a split personality. No one person could be totally whole and not have a bit of darkness in them. Alexis wished she hadn't entertained the thought now because it only caused more tears and confusion.

The only coherent word she had been able to utter since she had left to put the mop and bucket back in the utility room after cleaning up was a choked out, WHY.   
Why had something horrible have to happen to Jaden again? Why couldn't all the bad stuff just leave Jaden alone for awhile; didn't he have enough bad stuff happen to him for a life time?!?! Why did Haou have to come back so quickly? That question was what was weighting the heaviest on her mind. Why had Haou come back and how? Hadn't Axel defeated him back in the other world? Hadn't Jaden over come him? So why had he come back; and how?  
"Alexis?" Came a voice behind her causing her to jump and turn quickly around. 

"Oh, Axel you scared me; what are you doing here?” Alexis asked as she tried to dry her tears before he saw.

"Hey what’s wrong? Did something happen? Is someone hurt?" Axel asked seeing the girl’s distress even before she tried to wipe away her tears. This didn’t help the situation at all as fresh tears fell from her eyes more profusely then before.

"It Jaden. He's really sick. He can't even wake up and his fever is so high. Axel I'm afraid we might lose him again. And even worse this is all caused by Haou! He's trying to gain control over Jaden again and it’s caused him to become very sick." Alexis cried.

This took Axel by surprise. Not in his wildest dreams would he have ever thought of Haou coming back. Hadn't they taken care of that from happening already?

"Alexis where’s Jaden at now?"

"He's over in his room. Jim, Jesse, the Chancellor, and the nurse are with him. Jim was the one who found him. Jaden was leaned up against a tree and then collapsed; he hasn't woken up fully since and we can't get his fever to go down at all." Alexis said as tears continued to fall from her eyes.

Just then Jesse came around the corner of the building.  
"Alexis! Alexis; come on Jaden’s starting to stir and his fever has gone down; not much but still a significant amount! Come on the nurse says he might wake up soon!" Jesse said happy that his friend should make it and wake up soon. Then he saw Axel. He knew Alexis probably already filled him in.  
"Hey Axel; you should come to. I bet Jaden would be happy to see you as well."

Axel was still a little shocked by both sets of news that he just nodded and followed Jesse and Alexis as they ran up to Jaden’s room. Maybe they wouldn't have to worry about Haou after all. Maybe Haou would lose this fight after all.


	17. Chapter 17 Dejection, Pain and Hopelessness

*Back inside Jaden’s mind*

Jaden's eye’s flickered open very slowly as he became conscious in his own mind. Still floating he turned his head to look around at his surroundings. Yubel had hid herself in the shadows so Jaden couldn’t see her. She didn’t want to spook him and didn’t know how he’d react with his mind in such turmoil as it was right now. The depression and dark loneliness that Haou had caused hung around Jaden like moths to the light. Yubel feared the damage that Haou must have wrecked upon Jaden's mind and heart. If Jaden wasn’t able to surpass Haou’s darkness he could be lost to the darkness for good and Haou would take over. A single tear escaped from Yubel's eye as she watched Jaden as he weakly tried to sit up. 

Jaden didn’t even notice that he wasn’t laying on anything solid; his mind was still too clouded to give notice to anything but the darkness that was shrouding his mind and heart. Jaden's breath was still very labored and his fever was still very high. So it took almost all his strength just to sit up.

“Hello?” Jaden called out weakly; his voice raspy and strained. He looked around trying to discern if he was as alone as he felt. He saw no one. Nor did he hear anyone. The silence was painfully loud around him; but not as painful as the dark loneliness that shrouded his every thought.

“Winged Kuriboh are you there?” Jaden called out. Silence was all that greeted Jaden’s call. Yubel could see the anguish, dejection, and hopelessness that seemed to creep up to Jaden as his eyes began to lose their focus. He almost seemed close to tears once again.

“He was right I am alone.” Jaden said tonelessly as his eyes began to shift back to the unfocused bronze gold yellow.

Dread filled Yubel at Jaden's deterioration. She had to do something quick before Jaden’s condition became irreversible. The damage that Haou had caused was starting to show.   
Suddenly Jaden grabbed at his head. Pain was shooting through his head like nails being driven in to his skull.  
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Jaden screamed crunching himself in a ball as tightly as if he was trying to keep himself from falling apart.

Yubel didn’t understand. “What is causing him to be in so much pain?” She thought as she began to move towards Jaden to try and find away to stop the pain; but she was stopped by something. As she turned to see what it was a bright red light began to seep in from somewhere.

“What now!” Yubel thought with alarm as a figure stepped forward and Jaden’s anguished screams filled the darkness around them.


	18. Chapter 18 Comatose

*Just before that in Jaden’s dorm room*

Jesse walked towards Jaden's door with Alexis and Axel right behind him. He was just about to turn the door knob and go in when something the nurse said stopped him.  
“Jim I don’t think Jaden is going to wake up.”  
Jesse froze; so did Alexis and Axel who were right behind him, both with shocked and perplexed looks on their faces.  
“What did she mean by that? Didn't she just send me out to get Alexis to tell her that Jaden was going to wake up?” Jesse thought as he leaned up to the door to listen to what was going on.

“What do you mean; didn't you just send Jesse out to get Alexis be….” 

“I know what I said, but you’re the most mature and oldest one in the group and I want you to break it slowly to them after I explain it to you.” The nurse said cutting off Jim in mid sentence. Jesse didn’t hear the chancellor so he must have returned to the school to figure out what to do next.

“Nurse what are you trying to tell me; what do you mean Jaden won’t be waking up?” Jim said. Jesse could hear the panic in his lowered voice. Alexis and Axel had both also come closer to the door in order to better hear what Jim and the nurse were saying.

“Jaden, I’m afraid has entered into a coma.” The nurse said with deliberate slowness.  
It was like the nurse had struck him. Jesse’s mind reeled with the nurse’s words. It was like the world had once again turned upside down and was stuck in that position. Jesse was having a hard time standing, Alexis had already slowly landed on her knees a shocked blank look on her face, her head leaning against the door. Axel looked even more shocked and had started breathing hard.

All Jesse could hear was Jim’s bewildered voice.  
“What? What do you mean by a coma; how do you know that he’s not just sleeping? He’s sick it has to be the fever, it can’t be a coma!” Jim was nearly shouting now.  
Jesse wanted to barge in and scream right along with him; he wanted to grab the nurse by the collar and shake her, he wanted to shake Jaden and try to force a response out of him, but his feet wouldn't allow him to move from where he was standing. He was rooted to the spot forced to listen to what was going on in the room of his closest friend.

“I can’t be sure of anything till the chancellor comes back with the campuses emergency helicopter and campus hospital team. When they get here we will transport Jaden to the campus hospital. There I can do a better diagnosis. I don’t have the equipment here to make an affirmed answer but all the signs are pointing to one conclusion.” The nurse paused for a second to let it sink in before continuing.

“After Jaden got sick on the floor he slipped into a coma. His pupils aren't reacting to light like they should, his reflexes aren't responding correctly, his breathing is irregular, and he isn't responding to sound either. Not even to someone saying his own name. These are all signs of a coma.” The nurse spoke as gently as possible. Jesse could hear bed springs groan as Jim must have sat down by Jaden. He could picture him watching Jaden sleep for any signs that what the nurse said not being true and knew he would have done the same.

“Jim I need you to listen to me carefully.” The nurse continued, bringing Jesse back to the conversation.  
“Jaden is in critical condition and none of this is adding up to how he could deteriorate in a month’s time to the state that he is in now. You need to tell me exactly what has happened from the time you and the others walked into the other dimension to what has happened today.” The nurse asked urgently.  
Jesse heard Jim sigh.

 

“Where do I start?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey there Heartbreakerninja here
> 
> so liking the story so far? let me know then lol so i've gotten 16+ hits so far yet not one comment. usually i dont complain but im new to this site. with fanfiction and deviantart i had been on them for a while and knew the fan groups and how large they were but on here not as sure yet.
> 
> sooooooo
> 
> let me know how im doing, tell me what ya think, or just to say hi. i love answering questions and concerns when they arise so send them my way. lol i wont even mind if they're in rapid fire succession lol as long as it isnt a question on how long this is gonna take cause i'll let ya know now i have no idea lol i have 53 chapters written up already and this STILL isnt finished. so other than that you can ask anything you like. while i might not have all the answers i will try as best i can to shed any bit of light i can on what ever you ask.
> 
> anyway
> 
> now that my rant is done lol
> 
> i would also like to address a few more things about this fic.
> 
> this fic is not a pairing in any shape or form. 
> 
> i dont roll with the sweet and fuzzy sorry. 
> 
> i dont do happy. which is weird cause im usually a happy energetic person lol. 
> 
> all my stories are dark and darker to the point of borderline psychotic.
> 
> there will not be any swearing, cussing or any other form of bad language in this fic. i believe in using a larger grammar base then 4 letter words to express what my character feel and say. 
> 
> i also like to keep the child like feel to the story so it flows as smoothly as i can possibly make it with the original anime story. even with all its dark tendencies and mentions of gross body fluid i like to keep it similar to its original form in respect for the shows owners and creators.
> 
> there will be NO and i mean NO sex or rape or any other form of erotic acts in this fic. im not that kind of writer and probably never will be. this doesnt mean i have anything against others that do since i have read some and a few were very well written and not just endless smut. i myself though cant do that kind of thing sorry.
> 
> sorry if all this seems weird but i have had these questions and concerns brought up on other sites i post this story on and i wanted to clear them up now rather than later. 
> 
> sorry again if this offended any one that wasnt my intent.
> 
> ok now that all the seriousness is done and over with on with the next chapter :D


	19. Chapter 19 Fear and Confusion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there heartbreakerninja here
> 
> sorry if these chapters seem so short. when i was writing them and posting them to deviantart [under the same username] they didnt see so short but on here and on fanfiction they do lol oh well sorry about that

*Back inside Jaden’s head*

Jaden’s agonized screams were tormenting Yubel. He had pulled himself in a tight ball while holding his head while at the same time screaming in pain. Yubel was going every which way around him trying to figure out what was causing him so much pain. But just as quickly as it had started it stopped. Jaden became limp once more; the same as he was before he had started screaming. His eyes were just barely open as Yubel brought Jaden into her arms cradling his weekend body wishing there was some way to help him. Yubel surprised herself when her tears started to fall onto Jaden's face. She hastily wiped them away then wiped them off Jaden’s face. The touch caused Jaden to stir and slightly open his eyes farther.  
“Yubel?” Jaden whispered his voice strained.  
“Jaden! I'm so glad you’re awake; are you ok; does anything hurt?” Yubel said in a rush glad that her Jaden was at least conscious in his mind.  
Jaden rubs his head wincing slightly as he shook his head.  
“Jaden why were you screaming?” Yubel asked Jaden as she watched him closely for any slight changes in his condition.  
“I don’t know why but Haou was trying to take over my body by force and it was causing our minds to split which was really painful for both of us. I hope he doesn’t try that again.” Jaden said slowly shaking his head as if to rid himself of the thought.  
Jaden closed his eyes for a moment then opened them with a surprised and perplexed look on his face. He then closed his eyes even tighter only to open them again with a worried look.

“What’s wrong Jaden?” Yubel asked Jaden, wondering what he was doing.

“I can’t seem to wake up.” Jaden answered with surprise in his voice.  
They sat in silence as they both thought over this revelation. Why couldn’t Jaden leave his mind?  
Then a thought came to Jaden. He smacked his hand to his head as the thought came to him  
“I can’t wake up because Haou confused my body. It doesn’t know which belongs in control so it’s letting neither of us. This is just great now what do I do?” Jaden said trying to keep the panic out of his voice.  
Yubel was wondering the same thing. What was going to happen now?


	20. Chapter 20 Hide and Seek or Cat and mouse

*somewhere else in Jaden's mind*

Haou pulled back into himself; the pain that he felt when trying to take control of Jaden's body was so powerful he almost lost consciousness. The only thing he thought was good about it was that it caused Jaden just as much pain as it did to him.

“Well that was fun.” Haou said sarcastically to no one in particular as he sat back huffing from the pain he had just felt and the energy it had taken to even try to take over Jaden forcefully. 

Haou wasn’t really sure why it didn’t work since Jaden was somewhere unconscious; and he and Jaden, though total opposites, were of the same spirit. Only their souls were different. The only thing he could think of was the only way he could get control was to trick Jaden into letting him or to break Jaden down to the point that he wouldn’t be able to refuse Haou no matter what. But before that he would have to deal with Yubel.

Haou clinched his teeth. He was suppose to be Yubel's master yet she had shown favor to his lighter half instead; even giving him the ability to use her and his powers against Haou’s will. Though this didn’t matter much since they were as much Jaden’s powers as they were his because of them being of the same spirit. This agitated Haou to no end because Jaden didn’t understand the depth of the powers he possessed; only Haou knew the true depth of the powers they shared, only Haou should be the one to wield the powers bestowed on to them. Only he was the true supreme king!

Haou angrily punched the mirror he had been using to take over Jaden’s body; causing him to bloody his knuckles. Haou ignored the pain only slightly smirking knowing if he caused himself anymore bodily harm Jaden would soon start feeling it and seeing it. It was kind of funny like that; neither one of them could kill the other without killing themselves in the process. The same would go for any large amount of damage being dealt to either of them. The small cuts on Haou's face and his bloody knuckles were too small to start showing on Jaden’s end. 

But, if he was to break his arm Jaden would have terrible pain in his arm and wouldn’t be able to use it till Haou’s arm mended. Jaden himself wouldn't have a broken arm but it would feel like he did. Haou thought this would be an interesting thing to try out. Haou could ignore pain to a point while Jaden wouldn’t be able to. Haou sat down on a chair that seemed to show up out of thin air as he thought about this revelation. Maybe this would be his way to get to Jaden. He could use pain to back Jaden into a corner. Haou laughed maliciously; his laughter filled the empty space as he came up with his newest plan to take control of Jaden and then all of the dimensions.

“Soon Jaden; soon I will have all that I want!” Haou laughed as he sunk into another mirror. 

“Come out; come out where ever you are Jaden!” Haou crackled as he slipped into another space in their mind.

Now the games will really begin.


	21. Chapter 21 An Appearing and Disappearing   scare

*back to Jaden and Yubel*

Yubel had completely forgotten about the glowing red figure that had stopped her earlier till she heard his foot steps behind them again. Yubel quickly pulled Jaden behind her as she turned to confront the intruder; taking a defensive stance, ready to strike to protect Jaden if she had to.

“Don’t worry Yubel I'm a friend I'm not going to hurt Jaden; you can trust me. Isn’t that right mate?” The figure said as he cautiously approached Jaden and his guardian. 

Jaden recognized the voice immediately. Jaden peeked behind Yubel just in case it was a trick by Haou. What he saw caused his mind to clear up quite a bit more and seamed to even push the darkness that shrouded him a little farther away. His eyes even seem to even go back to his usual chocolate brown; though still had the depressing glowing golden yellow seeping in around the edges. Showing the darkness wasn’t totally gone from his mind.

“Jim! Jaden yelled in relief as he weakly rushed over to him. The movement ended up being too much. He ended up collapsing against Jim. Jim caught Jaden in a hug thankful that he didn’t find his friend in some dark prison of Haou's. Even in his own mined he looked so frail and weakened. Jim was not only worried about Jaden overcoming Haou but he was also concerned if he would be able to bear the strain on his body with it being as frail as it was now.

Jim looked around them; the dark clouded endless space brought shivers down his spine with the memories they brought with them, before he brought his attention back to Jaden.

“Jaden are you all right? What’s wrong? Why haven’t you woken up?” Jim asked almost all at once. But he couldn’t get a response from Jaden because Jaden started to cry. Jim was really surprised because he had never seen Jaden cry before. It reminded him of a young child that had been lost and then found; which Jaden pretty much was. Jim couldn’t help wanting to sooth Jaden who was now shaking all over as he sobbed. Jaden usually was the strong one trying to keep the others pulled together. It was a little unsettling to have it the other way around. He had never once ever seen him cry; nor heard of him ever crying before. What exactly had Haou done to shatter Jaden down to this? 

Yubel stood and watched Jaden. Seeing Jim had helped. She was glad that Jim had the power to enter people’s minds, because without it she didn’t know what would have happened to Jaden. Yubel looked cautiously around for any signs of Haou. She didn’t want him to show up and spoil it for Jim to save Jaden. That was all she cared about. All she wanted was for Jaden to get better and get back in control.

“Jim please don’t leave.” Jaden cried as he looked up at Jim; desperation showing in his eyes. “Everyone else is gone.” Jaden said as he tried to dry his eyes. Jaden looked behind him to make sure Yubel hadn’t left him as well.

Jim was a little worried of how Jaden was acting. He look so small and lost and uncertain about everything; nothing of how he usually was. Usually he was so confident and positive of just about everything. Now he seemed totally crushed. “What exactly had Haou done to have him in such a state as this?” Jim thought as he watched Jaden. Yubel had come up behind him to steady him as he began to sway.

“Jaden don’t worry I'm haven’t gone anywhere mate, and neither has anyone else. We’re all waiting for you to wake up. Which reminds me; why haven’t you?” Jim asked.

Jaden closed his eyes as he steadied himself with Yubel's help. Jim took note of the purple black bruises on and under his eyes from not enough sleep plus being sick. Jaden took a couple of seconds before he could answer.  
“I tried to wake up but Haou has confused my body. It doesn’t know who should be in control. But what do you mean no ones left? The only ones I’ve seen all day other than Haou is Yubel and you.” Jaden said as he kind of sat down which pretty much meant that he was floating cross legged. He then began pulling out his cards shuffling through them.

Jim didn’t understand what Jaden meant. Didn’t he remember being in class earlier? He had sat with Syrus, Hassleberry, and Jesse; how was it that he would think that he hadn’t seen anyone all day?

“Jaden, do you remember what you did today before you saw Haou?” Jim asked as he watched Jaden look through his deck.

“Hmm” Jaden said as he thought about what Jim asked him. “I don’t know it’s all kind of fuzzy and it hurts my head to think that far back. Actually I don’t even remember what day it is or how long I’ve been here; it feels like I’ve been here for a month.” Jaden said as he continued to look through his cards looking depressed.

Jim was a little puzzled by what Jaden was doing. Yubel, as well, was also quite perplexed.

“Jaden what are you looking for?” Yubel asked Jaden as he continued to shuffle through his cards.  
Jaden looked up at Yubel looking a little worried. But that wasn’t what troubled Yubel the most. Jaden had tears in his eyes again. Yubel wasn’t sure what to do anymore. Jaden seemed totally crushed by Haou. “How is he ever going to be able to take control if he’s lost all hope and confidence?” Yubel thought to herself.

“I can’t see any of my cards again” Jaden whimpered as tears streamed down his face as he showed them his cards. They were indeed all black except for the description at the bottom of each card.

Jim was a little taken back by this since Jaden didn’t go anywhere without his cards; but he had looked through Jaden’s cards earlier and they were all right then. All the pictures were perfectly fine.

What was going on?


	22. Chapter 22 Be prepared

*Just before that*

Alexis was crying again. She had cried when she had seen Jaden so sick and she had cried when she had talked to Axel; she then had cried again when Jim had talked to them after they had listen by the door to hear that Jaden was in a coma. Now she was crying again as she watch the academies hospital emergency helicopter EMT’s load up Jaden to take him to the academies hospital. Jim was going with him along with a too quiet Jesse.

Syrus and Hassleberry had come back after their makeup duel along with Chazz and were still shell shocked from what Alexis and the others had told them. Syrus was so distraught that he almost got into a fight with Jim when he wouldn’t let him go to the hospital in the helicopter with him and Jesse.

“There’s only enough room in the helicopter for 2 other people Syrus; and Jesse and I are the most likely to make a calmer response to the situation. I'm sorry but it’s true; right now you’re too upset to be in the helicopter.” Jim had told Syrus sternly.

It had taken Chazz half hauling him away from the helicopter to keep him from jumping aboard on his own. It was the most determined and boldest act she and Chazz had ever seen Syrus do; if it hadn’t been for the present situation they probably would have been a little bit proud of him.

They all stood and watched as the helicopter rose into the air and headed off. It wasn’t until the copter was out of view before anyone moved from the spot they seemed fixed to. Chazz was the first to move.

“Well we better get prepared.” he said as he headed towards his dorm room startling the others.

“Prepared? Prepared for what?” Axel asked greatly perplexed.

“To face Haou of course; if Jaden doesn’t succeed in waking back up out of his coma; you know darn well Haou won’t let the chance of taking control over Jaden's body and mind again slip right past him. Which means we’ll have to defeat him to get Jaden back just like you and Jim had to do the last time.” Chazz said turning back towards Axel as he spoke.   
Then turning away he said in almost a whisper; “Let’s hope it never comes to that again” then he walked on. 

This revelation hit Alexis hard; she hadn’t thought of Haou trying something like that, but it made perfect sense. With Jaden unable to put up a fight all Haou would have to do is slip back into control; just like last time in the other dimension. The friends soon set off to their own dorms to grab decks and duel disks before meeting up at the hospital to wait out the fate of one of their dearest friend. 

If only they had known what was going on in Jaden's head they would have known what they really needed to be prepared for.


	23. Chapter 23 Fighting past defeat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey heartbreakerninja here! just something quick here lol there are 20+ chapters done ahead of this so a quick warring so i dont shock you. the chapter uploads will probably end up slowing down. sorry i know you guys have been glad its been updated so fast but unfortunately my brain doesn't work that fast..... usually... i would have to have had either a major brain spark or a LOT of caffeine and red dye in my system. [aka red mountain dew usually does the trick lol]
> 
> any way...
> 
> i usually work in a 6 step process. step 1 type with out thinking [literally].  
> step 2 fix all errors in spelling and grammar.  
> step 3 fix sentence structure.  
> step 4 add and subtract whole sentences, words, and even paragraphs at times [chapter 4 got totally rewritten once].  
> step 5 reread and fix missed problems.  
> step 6 upload to what ever fanfiction sites im apart of [there are 3 so fare].  
> some times i have to do research for the story so it can become a 7 step process but most times its 6 steps lol
> 
> the longest its ever taken me to upload a new chapter is 4 months. [unfortunately problems arise and take priority] but i promise that im going to try really hard to get them up quickly.
> 
> sorry if this seems like pointless information i have a bad habit of rambling but oh well anyway enjoy :)

*At the same time in the helicopter*

Jim breathed in slowly trying to calm his already fried nerves. The academies emergency helicopter and EMT’s had arrived just after he had finished explaining to the others that Jaden wasn’t going to wake up right away like they had thought; like he had hoped.

He hadn’t expected Syrus’s reaction to the situation at all. Of course he knew the kid was going to be distraught, but he hadn’t anticipated him to half attack him to be near Jaden. Thankfully Chaz was there to help hold him back; though he himself was still stunned. Hopefully Syrus would forgive him for not letting him in the helicopter but Jim needed a willing duel spirit seer for this one and Jesse was the prime candidate. He had already talked it over with him before they had gotten in the helicopter. 

Jesse was going to watch Jaden and Jaden's cards for any changes while Jim went directly into Jaden’s mind to find out what was what. He had to get in and quietly enough that Haou wouldn’t notice another mind linked to theirs. With any luck he would find Jaden before Haou had a chance to create anymore damage then he had already done.

Jim picked up Jaden’s card holster from the bag of Jaden’s belongings. The EMT’s had asked him to help remove Jaden’s shoes, jacket, belt, and cards holster before laying him down on the bed in the helicopter. As he held it his eye picked up Jaden’s souls aura in his cards. Jaden had put his very heart and soul into creating his deck; his cards were covered in his love for them; his aura was very strong around them. It brought a small strained smile to Jim’s face as he held the cards in his hands. 

Flash backs of Jaden protecting his cards from everything, from the wind to pharaoh the cat flashed through his mind. The only thing Jaden treasured as much as his cards were his friends. He remembered countless times where Jaden put his life on the line for his friends and sometimes even the world.  
This time it seemed it may have been too much.

He also remembered the one time when Jaden let Haou take over to escape the pain of causing his friends to be sent to the stars.  
Jim brushed away the dark thoughts that came to haunt him. He knew Jaden wasn’t a quitter. It took a lot to make Jaden accept defeat.

_**But it was Haou that made him accept defeat last time.**_

The thought struck Jim like a punch in the gut. He tried not to accept it but every word was correct.

“Not this time it won’t be; not on my watch.” Jim thought firmly. He wouldn’t let Jaden fall down that path again.

Jim looked back down at the cards he held in his hands. He was about to flip through them when he notice Jaden stiffen up, like he had been shocked. The EMT’S noticed as well.

“Monica hand me a mouth guard before this kid breaks any teeth from being so stiff then get a muscle relaxer ready.” One of the EMT’S said to one of his teammates.  
Jim looked from Jaden to Jesse then to the EMT.

“If he’s in a coma how can he stiffen up like that?” asked Jesse as he watched Jaden.

The EMT inserted the mouth guard before answering.  
“Sometimes in cases with kids in comas when they have nightmares their bodies will react to whatever is happening in them. It’s a strange occurrence that happens most of the time with kids with very vivid imaginations; usually kids 8 years or younger. This is the first time that I’ve seen it in an older kid but it’s not unheard of, especially with duelist.” The EMT concluded as the EMT called Monica inserted the needle with the muscle relaxer into Jaden's upper arm. Very quickly his body started to relax but his eyes stayed squelched up.

“We can’t stop the nightmare but at least we can keep him from hurting himself.” Monica explained as she looked at Jaden sadly; she then pulled a blanket up under his arms.  
Jim and Jesse knew it wasn’t exactly a nightmare that was causing Jaden to stiffen up the way he had. They knew for sure Haou had to be up to something to be causing Jaden so much pain that he his whole body had stiffen up while being in a coma.  
Jim looked down at Jaden's cards, flipped through them quickly then handed them to Jesse.

“Ready for this mate?” Jim asked “Anything could happen after I enter his mind.”

Jesse hesitated then nodded solemnly. This was probably going to be very dangerous for Jim. If Haou found him in there he could very well cause him to end up in the same state Jaden was in. Haou was very strong; Jesse might not have been there when Jaden relinquished himself to Haou’s will but Jaden had told him a little of what he could recall that happened. Jim and the others did as well. They all talked about the dark aura around him and the black and red armor. Or how his eyes were so alarmingly unlike Jaden’s usual gentle laughing chocolate eyes; they even told about how he seemed so unfeeling. Only his lust for power seemed prominent. But Jaden's recollection of what happened seemed worse; much worse. 

*Flash back*

After Jaden had returned he seemed quiet and distant. No one seemed to be able to pull him out of his own thoughts. Of course he interacted with his friends enough to try and reassure them that he was ok, but it didn’t totally put them at ease.

Jesse had found him one evening, after classes were done for the day, up on his and Jesse’s favorite spot. It was on top of one of the lower building’s roof area watching the sunset. Jesse had quietly sat down cross legged beside him, leaning back slightly on his hands. For a few moments neither of them spoke as the sun drifted slowly down towards the tree line. Jaden was the first to break the silence.

“I never even knew that he was there.” He said very quietly startling Jesse slightly though he tried not to show it. Jaden never spoke softly; he always made sure he was heard.

Jesse looked over at Jaden who kept his eyes forward still watching the sky. Jesse really didn’t know what to say to Jaden to help. He was still trying to get over the confusion of someone having multiple souls in one body. Of course this was Jaden and Jaden always seemed to be able to defy the order of reality and every once in awhile the laws of physics and probably even gravity if it came to that. Jesse thought, inwardly rolling his eyes. This was one reason he was a little hesitant when asking his next question.

“So...i-is he, you know, um…” Jesse tried to ask

“Still there inside me? Ya he’s still there just sleeping, hopefully forever if I'm lucky.” Jaden answered just as quietly as before. He hadn’t even turned his head towards Jesse as he spoke; still looking out at the sun.

“What about Yubel?” Jesse asked remembering with a cold shiver down his spine what she had done to them in the other world just to get Jaden all to herself.

This time Jaden looked down at his deck sitting in his lap before he spoke a small weak smile playing at the corner of his mouth.

“She’s a part of me now if that makes any sense. I fused our souls with super polymerization; right now she’s sleeping while keeping Haou asleep as well.” Jaden said slowly, a little louder from before but now by much. 

As he was talking he had taken out Yubel’s card which was surprisingly in his deck. Jesse would have thought, with all that happened; Jaden would have put her card in a box and hid it under something. But really it was just like Jaden to forgive the wayward duel spirit. Jesse watched as Jaden stared at the card. As he watched Jaden he could have sworn that he saw Jaden's eyes change colors to look more like Yubel's multi colors; but the sun had gotten in his eyes before he could get a better look. By the time he could see again Jaden's eyes were the same color as usual. Maybe he hadn’t seen anything at all. Jesse shook his head rubbing his eyes.

“You would never believe me if I told you what it took for Haou to take over.” Jaden whispered as he put Yubel's card away. “I still don’t understand how I could be so weak.” Jaden said his voice slightly strained with emotion. Jesse watched as multiple emotions played silently on Jaden's face before he hid them under the calm masked he showed lately.

Jesse knew he needed to say something before Jaden went completely behind the walls he seemed to be building around his heart, but it was getting extremely hard to figure out what to say to Jaden anymore. Depression seemed to be his constant companion.

“It’s not your fault Jaden. Haou used the moment when you were most vulnerable. He had probably been the one that put this all together so that it would seem to you like you had to duel that duel spirit. He then probably knew that this would cause Syrus to leave. He knew he could use that moment to get the best grip on you. None of this is your fault. We all have moments of weakness; that’s what makes us human.” Jesse stated hoping to get through to Jaden.

Jaden seemed to be taking it all in silently but Jesse wasn’t totally sure. This was Jaden and usually his heart was on his sleeve but not so much lately. Lately it was becoming harder and harder to figure Jaden out.

“Human huh.” Jaden said before he turned to Jesse.  
“And what if I were to tell you there’s a part of me that isn’t totally human.” Jaden said with a wary smirk on his lips as his eyes changed colors and Neos formed behind him. Not as a duel spirit persay but flesh and blood.

Now a year ago this would have scared the heck out of him but not with what had happened to them lately. But the part of Jaden thinking he wasn’t fully human had him gapping at him anyway. Jaden turned back to the sun set as his eyes went back to normal and Neos disappeared.

“Jesse Haou isn’t human but nor is he a duel spirit either. In a past life I was a neo-spacian prince and Yubel was my best friend then she was turned into my guardian.” Jaden explained though Jesse was still confused and not totally convinced; but more or less shocked.

“The past me had Haou inside him... me as well, and because of this Yubel was turned into the duel spirit as you see now. She use to look like a normal girl with multi colored eyes. Apparently she was changed to protect him… me and help me with an important end of the world crisis type thing that Haou’s power is needed for. But she took the protecting thing a little to the extreme by accident.” Jaden explained farther.

Jesse thought this over in his mind. Even though it was very confusing and sounded crazy; it didn’t seem all that far out. With Jaden anything seemed possible anymore. There was another question that was burning in Jesse’s mind but he was a little scared to ask out of fear of upsetting his best friend, but if he didn’t ask soon it was going to bug him later.

“Jaden, I….” Jesse started but hesitated not sure how to proceed with his question.

“You want to know what it was like when I was under Haou’s control don’t you?” Jaden asked; startling Jesse a little with his right on the mark guess.

Jesse blushed sheepishly and nodded embarrassed that he was that easy to read.

Jaden sighed heavily before looking back at Jesse.

“Maybe it would be easier for me to show you then to tell you” Jaden said before standing he reached out his hand to help Jesse up; his eyes glowing Yubel's colors again.  
Jesse hesitated for a second not sure what to do and a little intimidated by Jaden's eyes. But he trusted Jaden and this may be the only time he would ever open up again.

And with that he reached out and took Jaden's hand. And with a flash he disappeared as Jaden fell backwards unconscious. Thankfully Neos was there to catch him. He would guard Jaden until his master and friend was finished with what he had to show Jesse.

Neos set Jaden against the wall as he proceeded to sit beside him arms crossed as he sat to wait; the setting sun casing shadows over them as it fell all the way behind the trees. He hoped Jesse would understand and maybe help Jaden back out of the shell he seemed to be closing around himself. Like the rest of Jaden's friends the duel spirits were just as worried about Jaden's state.  
Neos sighed as he looked down at his master and friend. He hoped this experience would bring Jaden back to them. If not he was afraid of the outcome.

If only he knew what was to come in a few weeks he may have watched over Jaden a little more closely then he already had been.

***flash back will be continued on next chapter***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh ya thanks Shadow Infinity Phoenix from fanfiction.net for noticing i was spelling Yubel wrong. i have no idea how i managed that but thanks for letting me know :) im going to have to fix that in the coming chapters :)


	24. Chapter 24 Even darkness takes up space

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey there heartbreakerninja here. 
> 
> sorry this one is like really super short but major brain bock has been plaguing me and taking up time on other chapters and other stories. its been killing me plus its 3 am and i was low on caffeine cause all my mom bought was nasty pepsi and [kill me now] caffeine FREE mountain dew [head hits keyboard from lack of favorite keep me awake pop] its funny i dont really drink that much soda mostly fruit juices and fruit flavored drinks but for some reason i have to have mountain dew when im up late weird huh? anyway heres the next chapter! chapter 25 will be out as soon as i finish editing it [step 4 and 5 if you remember my last note] any way here you go hope you enjoy :)

*Still flash back only this time in Jaden's head*

When Jesse opened his eyes again he found himself in an endless dark space. Everywhere he turned all he could see was darkness. It was like someone had shut out every bit of light and left nothing but the dark in its place. Yet Jesse could still see himself.

"Where the heck am I?" Jesse asked out load as he turned every which way looking for something that looked familiar.

"You're in the darkest part of my mind. The part that Haou created to keep me subdued while he tried to take over the 12 dimensions." Jaden said as he came walking out of the darkness; practically out of nowhere.

"Say what?" Jesse said as he looked around again just starting to notice the few mirrors that were still left hanging around. Shadows crossing each of them each saying something; Jesse couldn't make out what they were or what they were saying. It was like he was seeing a silent movie only without the subtitles. Jaden noticed Jesse watching the mirrors with a confused look.

"You can't see what's on them or what they're saying because they weren't made for you. Now if you had the eye or Oricalcome that be a little different." Jaden said with a dark chuckle at the end.

"What do you mean not for me to see or hear? If I'm not suppose to then who is?" Jesse asked looking over at Jaden. Jaden didn't look at Jaden instead he had a sad pained look as he stared at the mirror that was closest to him. The shadow inside seemed to have noticed too by its change in movements. It then struck Jesse as to whom the mirrors were made for. They were for Jaden. And if this was the prison that Haou had made to hold Jaden then the mirrors were created by Haou which would mean whatever was in those mirrors was nothing good.

"Jaden?" Jesse started before swallowing. "What exactly is in those mirrors? What did Haou want you to see?" Jesse asked a little scared to know if his suspicions were correct.

Jaden looked at Jesse his calm mask back into place. Though there were cracks in his mask. Jesse could still see the pain in Jaden's eyes. Whatever Haou had placed in those mirrors hit Jaden to the core.

"They are the pain and suffering that I inflicted on others and my worst fears played against me. I would show you what they show me but they may cause you to relive your time in the other dimension, and I don't want you to see what Yubel did through you." Jaden said as he looked back towards the mirrors. His mask was barely in place as Jaden tried to force his body to remain calm. Jesse could see him clenching his fist trying to keep the rest of him from shaking.

"Show me." Jesse said


	25. Chapter 25 Looking through the looking glass

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey heartbreakerninja here! hope your enjoying the story as much as i am writing it.
> 
> EmbyrEye from fanfiction.net asked if i was updating these at midnight. close more like 2 or 3 am in the morning. i work from 2pm to 11pm most nights so i usually dont have a lot of time during the day to update. [cause im usually sleeping] this is also usually the only time i get to write my story's as well :(. i guess its a good thing im a night owl.
> 
> anway a note about the chapter title. this is actually the title of a chapter in the book Alice in Wonderland 2. not my favorite book in the world but the title matched the chapter so i used it. dont own alice in wonderland all rights reserved.
> 
> anyway heres the next chapter hope you enjoy it :)

*still flash back*

"W-What?" Jaden said as he looked up at Jesse with a look that was a mix of shock and confusion; his calm mask gone in the moment of shock.

"You heard me; show me what you see in the mirrors. How am I supposed to understand if you won't let me help you?" Jesse asked loudly, his voice echoing around the dark space off of unseen walls.

"Jesse, you don't know what you're asking." Jaden sighed looking back at the mirrors. The cliché of that saying was irritating Jesse to no end.

Jesse rolled his eyes as he started over to where Jaden was standing. Jaden didn't seem to even notice that Jesse was heading in his direction. Till he grabbed his shoulders and in a very comical cartoon kind of way started shaking Jaden.

"Will you listen to yourself? Wake up Jaden!" Jesse said before he let go of a stunned Jaden. "Jaden I'm your friend; I think of you as my own brother but this is getting out of hand with you pushing everyone out.

If only he'd listen to me a little more maybe this whole mess wouldn't have happened in the first place or at least wouldn't have been as bad. Jesse thought as he thought back to that time in Jaden's mind.

Jaden looked up at Jesse before he turned back to the mirrors. Jaden's eyes turned the bicolor of gold and green before he looked back at Jesse with a grim look. Jesse was wondering what was going on till he started to hear cries of anger, fear, and sadness. It startled him at first till he looked at the mirrors and could see what was going on in them. No longer were they the intangible shadows and unheard voices but actual people and places from Jaden's past. What Jesse saw scared and shocked him but he made sure not to show it to much; adopting the calm mask that was usually in place on Jaden's own face. It was hard but Jesse tried to remain calm throughout the whole thing. It wasn't easy.

He saw villages burn, children and parents running and screaming only to be hit by a blast or sword and turned into light before being sent to the stars. He saw warriors bravely trying to hold back Haou's evil hero's only to fall in the process, leaving the people they tried to protect to fend off the attack and fall as well. He saw duelist forced to duel against the supreme king and his many minions only to lose and disappear into the stars. He saw a few of the duelist win against the king's minions only to be defeated by Haou himself. His evil laughter and acts chilled Jesse to the bone.

Then the mirrors shifted to people from Jaden's past and present. Each saying something different, the mirror twisting their words to sound a lot different then they originally were intended to be; and then some being just as they were said.

Jesse couldn't look any more but he couldn't look away either. The mirrors had him hypnotized by what they held.

Then a small cry pulled him from the mirrors. It came from a corner behind him. He turned to see Jaden as he had looked last year. He looked behind him to still see the present Jaden watching him. Evaluating Jesse's reaction to what he was seeing. Jesse turned back to the scene of the past Jaden shaking in the corner. What Jesse saw was just as Jim had seen almost a month ago when he was trying to save Jaden from Haou's power. Jaden even included Jim coming in with Axel trying to get Jaden to listen to him. It was as if Jesse was seeing a movie done on that particular memory. Soon the scene came to an end with the mirrors fading back to the unheard shadows that Jesse couldn't hear.

Jesse looked back at Jaden who looked at him sadly.

"Now you know what happened." Jaden said and with that returned them back to the roof. There Jesse had to wait for Jaden to wake up. Neos told him that using that kind of power drained him and he had to sleep it off. So Jesse sat there for a long time watching Jaden as he slept. Neos stayed saying that it was his duty to make sure Jaden woke up safely when Jesse asked him about it. When Jaden finally did wake up he had his calm mask back into place. Only this time it wasn't as tightly held in place. Jesse could see the sadness still in Jaden's eyes.

The soon headed back towards the road that led to the red dorm, Jesse not wanted to let Jaden out of his sight. He was still worried about Jaden, though now he had a better understanding on why Jaden acted as he did.

"Don't worry Jesse I promise I won't keep too much to myself anymore. I don't like worrying other people that much." Jaden said as he took off towards the red dorm. Jesse watched him head off before turning and heading towards the blue dorm. He was glad Jaden wasn't going to keep stuff to himself anymore and that Jaden trusted him enough to show him what was still haunting him.

Now if only he could get Jaden to understand that not all of it was his fault. Jesse know that was going to take some doing but he also knew he wasn't going to give up on this friend.

Too bad Jaden didn't keep his word about not keeping all his burdens to himself.

*end of flash back*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P.S. if you have any questions feel free to ask i love answering
> 
> i'd also like to say thank you to: secondhandrapture! thanks for bookmarking my story :D hope your enjoying it :D
> 
> also just to let ya know if ya have any questions or just wanna drop me a line go ahead and leave me a comment. i love reading comments cause it lets me know how you all feel about me story. so let me know k?


	26. Chapter 26 Your Guardian

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys heartbreaker here!
> 
> wow i got this chapter up sooner then i expected. i was really worried about this one cause [beside being really short] of how its worded. and the fact [that you probably already noticed] that my chapters back track on each other. in other words one chapter will be the 3rd person POV of for example jim the next chapter will be either what happened at the same time with another character for example jesse or at after or before. then the next chapter could be a back track on what happened before or after what happened to those characters to anther character for example jaden. like in this chapter. this is just before and then at the same time as what was happening to jaden and jim from like 5 chapters ago [see chapter 21]. sorry that probably made this more confusing then i meant it to be. you know me i ramble on and on lol.
> 
> anyway as usual i love reviews and questions and i will try and answer them to the best of my ability. also if i have any spelling or grammar mistakes that are really noticeable let me know; i've noticed that i've been missing stuff like crazy lately.
> 
> anyway enjoy this next chapter in the aftermath of jaden :)

***back in the helicopter***

Jesse watched as Jim readied himself to go into Jaden's mind. To someone from the outside it would have looked like Jim was sleeping while sitting straight up. Of course Jesse was in the know so he already knew what was going on.

Since this was his first time really seeing Jim's eye of Oricalcome at work Jesse watched him very carefully. So curiosity was up there on his top 5 emotions list; along with worry, fear, and sadness. Curiosity on how the eye worked, worry that Jaden and Jim would be harmed [more than they already were], fear that this would end badly, and sadness that Jaden and Jim were having to go through this once again in the first place. Along with a few other emotions that Jesse was tired of thinking of.

As Jesse watched Jim's eye glowed red as he entered Jaden's mind; Jaden seemed to stiffen in response even with the muscle relaxant still being in his system. Jesse also knew that this was very dangerous for both of them. If Haou found out Jim was in there it was going to be a real fight to get out in one piece.

They were almost to the hospital now on the other side of the island so Jim would have to hurry with whatever he was going to try and do.

Jesse looked down at Jaden's cards and something seemed to catch his eye. Winged Kuriboh's card looked different. It looked as if Kuriboh was sad. His card also seemed slightly faded. This panicked Jesse a bit; Winged Kuriboh was Jaden's closes duel spirit friend. He was pretty much Jaden's secondary guardian in a way. If something was wrong with it then something was absolutely wrong with Jaden.

Of course that was a no duh seeing as Jaden was in a coma and was battling with Haou again. Jesse just hopped that this wasn't a bad omen with what was wrong with Jaden.

The sun was slowly setting behind them as the day started to close. But the darkness wouldn't bring peace to duel academy this night at least as far as it was for Jaden and the gang.

Jesse looked over at Jaden then back at his card then at Jim and sighed.

"Bring him back to us Jim." Jesse whispered as they flew on towards the hospital.

Jesse sighed again as he turned to watch the islands forest pass underneath them. Winged Kuriboh still in his hand as Ruby tried to comfort her master and friend. It was going to be a long night; that she was sure of.


	27. Chapter 27 My Brothers Keeper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey there heartbreakerninja here.
> 
> sorry last chapter was so short heres a much longer one. i hope you like it. it was originally much shorter but then i added a little here and there to make it easter to understand since it was a little confusing in spots to me which meant it would have really been confusing for you guys lol. well anyway hope you enjoy this chapter :)

*back in Jaden's mind*

Jaden had tears in his eyes as he stared at his winged Kuriboh card, but try as he might he couldn't contact the furry little spirit that usually was his constant companion. The hopelessness that had dissipated upon Jim's arrival was doubling inside of Jaden's mind. It was so strong Jim could see it filtering around Jaden. Yubel noticed it as well and it was making her tense and uneasy.

"Jim we have to move. Haou will be able to sense Jaden's despair from a mile away. He'll be able to track Jaden's exact location faster than a blood hound." Yubel said already trying to get Jaden back on his feet with minimal success Jim noted as he nodded.

"Jaden come on you got to get up, we have to move." Yubel said trying to lift the unaware boy. Jaden seemed lost once again in his own darkness. His eyes were even starting to change again. Jim wasn't having that.

"Oh no you don't mate you aren't giving up on me again I won't let you this time." Jim said as he got down where Jaden was to look him in the eyes, shivering at the blank look of his now almost golden yellow irises. Tears were still running down the younger boys face. Jim hated Haou for doing this to Jaden. He knew only Haou could have done something to cause Winged Kuriboh to up and disappear. It sure wasn't Yubel or Jaden that caused it.

Jim grabbed Jaden's shoulder and gently squeezed them as he gently shook them to get Jaden's attention. Hoping he could get Jaden to snap out of it long enough for them to throw Haou off his trail.

"Jaden look at me mate." Jim said as Jaden looked at him. Blankly, but still at least he was looking at him. "Jaden come on now snap out of it. Despairing isn't going to help get Winged Kuriboh back." Jim said hoping to get through to Jaden.

"He left me. Haou was right I'm all alone. It's all my fault. He left and now I'm all alone and it all my fault." Jaden said shuddering as tears fell from his eyes onto his feverish cheeks. The stress must have become too much because he closed his eyes with a moan before he again fell in to a state of unconsciousness falling into Jim who caught him before he fell against the floor.

"Jaden it isn't your fault and this isn't your fault." Jim said but Jaden was already asleep.

Jim lifted Jaden up onto his arms like he would a small child, since Shirley's harness was still strapped to his back, before turning towards a worried and tense Yubel.

"So how do we get out of here?" Jim asked Yubel. He noticed she seemed somewhat caught up inside herself to hear him as she watched Jaden's labored breathing. "Yubel you ok?" Jim asked jolting Yubel out of her thoughts.

"I'm sorry Jim, forgive my absent mindedness. Jaden's despair is starting to seep over our soul link clouding my mind. I'm trying to depress it but it's getting harder for me to not loose myself in his darkness." Yubel said worriedly.

Jim nodded not knowing how to answer her. This was the first time he had to deal with someone that had multiple souls mingling amongst their own. Jaden was unquestionably an out of the ordinary person. Every time Jim thought he had him figured out Jaden surprised him with something crazy. He wouldn't be surprised if Jaden would start growing wings. Reflexively, Jim began to rub between Jaden's thin shoulder blades as if to check. It was then that Jim felt Jaden tenses when Jim touched something under Jaden's t-shirt. Flashes of Jaden with wings flashed through Jim's mind, which he shook off with a shake of his head, as he sank slowly to the floor.

He sat Jaden gently up against him as he began to take off the unconscious boy's shirt; he then noticed he didn't have his red blazer on. "Must be because we took it off in the helicopter" Jim thought as he pulled off Jaden's shirt. Both Jim and Yubel gasped at what they saw. Bruises upon bruises were laced across Jaden's back. Some were fresh while some looked a few hours old. Then to Jim's astonishment and horror, more started forming at their own accord. It was like Jaden was being beaten by something invisible without him feeling it.

"Yubel what's going on; how the heck is this happening?" Jim asked unable to keep his eyes off of Jaden as he watched bruises and now small cuts were starting to form

"I-I don't know, t-this doesn't make any sense except…" Yubel shuddered then trailed off as a realization came over her. But it was so horrific that she couldn't believe he would even try it but then again this was him we were talking about.

"What? Except what Yubel; what did you come up with?" Jim said now holding Jaden close wishing he could protect the smaller boy from whatever was happening.

Jim saw Jaden as a younger brother ever since they first met at the beginning of all the year. Jaden had such a pure soul that Jim was naturally drawn to him. It was the first time he had ever met someone who was untouched by corruption of the world. Jaden soul then was like that of a child much younger then he actually was. So of course his innocence and naivety always seemed to get him into crazy situations usually dragging others along for the ride. But now his soul seemed to be almost dying at the moment; it was so covered in darkness. His pureness seemed to be struggling to keep from succumbing to the darkness that Haou had caused. "Come on fight it" Jim willed Jaden's soul.

"Except that Jaden and Haou are connected. They are one and if something happens to Haou, if it's bad enough, it will happen to Jaden as well. Haou must be trying to get Jaden to submit to his will by tearing him down through pain. If this keeps up Jaden will start to feel it. Haou could incapacitate Jaden through pain. If that happens he could become too weak to fight him; plus the injuries he inflicts on him will also start to show up on his actual body not just here in his mind." Yubel explained quickly, watching as more scrapes and bruises appeared on Jaden's small back.

Jaden seemed to start to feel it because he was starting to wince in his sleep as new scrapes and bruises appeared. Jim was almost surprised that Jaden did wake up from it all or that he hadn't noticed them before. He had been so worked up about Winged Kuriboh that he hadn't even noticed or felt it when they had started. Though it did explain why he had collapsed so quickly.

"Haou you're going to pay for this." Jim said through gritted teeth as he watch the beating became too much for Jaden; his crying screams echoing far off into the darkness of his mind. They went even as far as to the ears of none other than Haou himself, bringing a smile to his face has he again rammed into the mirrors he had stacked in front of him, the shards slicing across his bare back.

"Submit Jaden, it's the only way the pain will end." Haou whispered knowing that his words would reach into Jaden's mind no matter how loud he said them.

Jaden was again in for the fight of his life. But could it be too much for him this time. Haou wanted to see for himself as he again crashed into mirrors, right in front of a scared looking Winged Kuriboh locked inside the cage Haou had trapped him. The horrified look on its face was the last thing Haou saw as he himself fell into unconsciousness. Not even Haou himself could continuously beat himself up on purpose. "At least Jaden could be grateful for that." Haou thought sourly to himself with a smirk as the darkness of sleep overcame him.


	28. Chapter 28 Peace I just need some peace, If I have to I'll do anything, but I can't go on living without peace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there heartbreakerninja here. just a quick tidbit about this chapter.
> 
> im going to take you for a loop lol.
> 
> this chapter is a little different then the previous 27 were. while they were in 3rd person POV this one is in jaden's POV. dont ask me why but the idea just hit me and i rolled with it. all and all i think it came out pretty good. after you read it i'll have a comment at the end to explain this chapter a little bit. anyway enjoy :)
> 
> P.S. FYI:  
> just a little note: .~<3~..~<3~. = time passing.

*Jaden*

It hurts. It hurts so badly yet I can't find the cause….

It feels like my back is being hit with a thousand needles while being roasted by fire…

.~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~.

In my head I feel his lust for power and blood. I can hear his laughter. Laughing at the plight I'm in. laughing at how weak I am. Not about how weak physically that being sick has caused me to be, but me being mentally weak….

I can't face him, he's too strong…

His grip is too tight…

His darkness over powers my mind like a suffocating blanket making it hard to breath, to think, to feel anything else but hopelessness…..

.~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~.

"Somebody help me! Please make the pain stop; make it all go away. I don't want to do this anymore. I can't take it anymore!" I scream in my mind knowing no one can hear me. No one except him that is….

.~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~.

I know I have to stop this. It's my destiny to overpower Haou and use the supreme king's power to save the world from the great evil that is suppose to come. But I don't think I can anymore…

Why does it have to be me? I'm so weak. How am I supposed to save to world?

The darkness that is me…how do I control it? I don't think I can…..It hurts to much….

.~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~.

More pain…

It race's up my back like a freight train at full speed causing white flash's to streak across in front of my eyes…

.~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~.

I can hear someone calling out my name. Someone familiar; someone gentle and kind, but I can't make out what they're saying…

It seems so far away. Some ones holding me close, protectively but I can't see who it is. Why is it so dark? Why can't I focus my eyes? Is it because of the pain? Or is it because of my fever?

I wish I had my jacket. I feel so cold, yet I'm sweating….how strange….

.~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~.

I think time has elapsed but I'm not sure. It feels like the pain has gone on forever. At least now it's starting to fade some. Now it's more like a throbbing ache all over my back…

.~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~.

I can hear that voice again. I still can't hear what he's saying but its a little clearer now. I can now make out a blurry out line of who's talking. He's carrying me somewhere….. Why is he glowing red on one side?

.~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~.

Am I dreaming; if I am I wish I'd wake up now…

.~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~.

I'm so tired I think I'll sleep some more. Yes sleep; it's so much more peaceful then the real world or the confines of my own mind. In my dreams I don't have to save the world. In them there is no Haou or darkness. It's so much better than this is now. I could stay in them forever. No one would care. No one would be sad if I stayed in my dreams and never wake up. It would be easier for them I think. No one cares about what happens to me anymore right? Even Winged Kuriboh left me. There's no one left…

.~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~.

Sleep in darkness no one can help me…..no one cares….

.~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~.

I'm sorry this is all my fault…..forgives me…

.~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~.

I can't do this anymore….make it all stop….

.~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~.

Sleep that's all I want….to dream on and on…..

.~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~.

Peace I just need some peace…

If I have to I'll do anything…

.~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~..~<3~.

I can't go on living…..without peace…..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok now to explain. 
> 
> jaden's thoughts are very jumbled hence the reason why they are so separated and why time pass between each set of thoughts. [hence the .~<3~..~<3~. that equal time] 
> 
> i really dont know why i decided to do a 1st person POV with this chapter but it struck me that jaden has never clearly told us how he felt and why he was giving in to haou. so wala this chapter was born from that. 
> 
> i hope it didnt take you for to much of a loop. anyway hope you enjoyed it :) either the next chapter or the chapter after that should explain this chapter a little better but until then i hope this explanation helped. till next chapter then :)
> 
> on a separate note: the title and the last 3 stanzas of this chapter are lyrics from a song that i thought fit perfectly. its called "peace". just type the lyrics into search engine you should be able to find it :D


	29. chapter 29 A bond that should never be broken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey there heartbreakerninja here once again with the next chapter! :)
> 
> yaya i got another chapter up :) here you go hope you like it. though i think i could have done better on this one but couldnt figure out how to make it better with out messing up my ending plan...i think. is it weird that i know what i want this to get to but i dont know how to get to what i want it to get to. [wow thats confusing] anyways heres the next chapter. 29 chapters wow. didnt think it would end up being this long when i first started but i have loved every moment of it and cant wait to see how this is going to progress. anyway here you go hope you enjoy :)

*Jaden's head*

Jim was scared out of his wits. How in the world could it be right that if one person [part of someone or not] can hurt himself he can, at the same time, cause bodily harm to someone else! It just wasn't right.

Jaden was whimpering in his arms as he ran behind Yubel. He was only slightly with them, half delusional from the pain. Jim looked down at Jaden who was more feverish then before as they ran through the dark corridors of Jaden's mind.

"We have to get as far from Haou's influence as we can while he isn't aware of us moving." Yubel said to Jim as they hurried on into the seemingly endless darkness.

"Is there no end to this darkness?" Jim said almost to himself.

"Yes but it's a faint and small area at the moment. It's the only place Haou has yet been able to penetrate, but with Winged Kuriboh missing its light may grow weak as well." Yubel said looking worriedly in Jaden's direction as she ran faster down the corridor of darkness. Amazing Jim at how she didn't seem to get lost in the endless darkness that was around them.

Up in the distance Jim's eye of Oricalcome picked up warmth and light. He could sense happiness and freedom. These feelings surprised him since they were still surrounded by darkness. Yubel picked up on Jim's surprise.

"Yes that's the area I was speaking of. The last ray of light in Jaden's darkened mind." Yubel explained.

"What is it that is keeping it from the darkness?" Jim asked

"It holds a small fraction of what Jaden holds dear. Something that Haou has yet been able to find a way to use against him." Yubel said as they closed in on the light.

"And that would be?" Jim asked

They had by that time reached the lighted space in Jaden's mind. Jim could only gap opened mouth at it. It was bright and looked to be endless color. There were swirls of every color Jim could name and a few he couldn't. It was like all the colors missing from Jaden's mind had been condensed into this one spot. It was absolutely beautiful to look at. Jim breathed in deeply; the air was even fresher there then in the rest of Jaden's mind.

"It looks just like Jaden's neo space field spell card." Jim thought to himself. It was then that he knew what Yubel had been saying; the only thing that Haou couldn't use against Jaden.

"His cards and the spirits within them." Yubel answered Jim finishing his thought.

All around them were images of his monsters; each one from different past memories. Jim knew Jaden had a special bond with his cards but this went far deeper then he could ever imagine. This alone showed that no matter what happened Jaden believed that he could always count on his cards to be there for him. Even within the storms of life.

"This is the only thing keeping Jaden alive at the moment. Without it Jaden would parish." Yubel said quietly. This shocked Jim out of his thoughts. He didn't understand why Jaden would not be able to survive without them.

"You must see it; the way he cares for his cards. Have you ever noticed that Jaden has never once let anyone else touch his cards? He isn't mean about it of course, but he evades any reason to hand over one of his cards to anyone. They are more precious to him then all the power or wealth in the world. They have never betrayed him, never left his side, they have always been there when he needed them. Do you understand what I'm saying now Jim?" Yubel said as she turned towards him.

Jim understood alright. In the other dimension Jaden's friends had abandoned him but his cards never did. The wound that that inflicted was still there and because of it, even though Jaden now understood why they all had left him, his cards became more meaningful to him than anything else in the world. Not even friendship could come close to the strength of Jaden's bond with his cards.

Jim may have understood but that didn't mean it didn't sadden him a bit that Jaden's cards were the ones that had to lift his head above the torment that he had been facing almost all alone. But Jim did know that they wouldn't have to do it alone anymore. He would help his friend anyway he could.

Jim sensed a change in the world outside Jaden's mind. He knew what it meant. He quickly turned towards Yubel and handed her Jaden, who was sleeping more peacefully now that they were out of the darkness, before explaining.

"Yubel watch over Jaden here for a bit. I think we just arrived at the hospital and that means I have to move myself with them. I promise I will be right back. Tell Jaden I promise to be right back if he wakes up you hear?" Jim said as fast as he could.

"I will do as you ask but remember Jim, Jaden isn't as stable as he was before all this happened I don't know what he will do if he doesn't see you when he wakes up. Come back quickly." Yubel warned.

Jim nodded as he disappeared in a rush of red light. The last thing he saw before he left Jaden's mind was Jaden's feverish face. And he could have sworn he saw a tear run down the young boys face. As he left his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> little bit of a corny ending for a chapter but to move forward i had to get jim out of jaden's head. which is a lot harder than it sounds. hopefully this cliff hanger wasn't to disappointing. anyway see you in the next chapter!
> 
> and thanks for all the reviews. i absolutely love reading them :) THANK YOU


	30. Chapter 30 Moving to fast, Not time to slow down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about the shortness but sometimes short is better lol 
> 
> see ya in the next chapter :)

*back to the helicopter*

Jesse looked over at Jim when he heard him gasp. He was still in Jaden's mind but something was off. He couldn't think of why but it made him look over at Jaden. That's when he noticed something creep up the back of his neck.

"What is that?"Jesse thought to himself. Thinking maybe something had got in his shirt Jesse crouched over nearer to Jaden for a better look. What he saw made him freak out more than Jaden moving in a coma. Scars were appearing across the nape of Jaden's neck. Without a second thought Jesse began taking Jaden's shirt off and rolling him over.

"Hey what are you doing to…what in the world!" One of the EMT's exclaimed when he noticed why Jesse had taken off Jaden's shirt. Everyone in the helicopter, except for the pilot and Jim, stopped and stared at Jaden. All over Jaden's back were bruises on top of bruises along with slashing scars from the nape of his neck to his pants line on his back. Hardly an inch of skin on his back was unmarked.

"Jeremiah hit this bird into high gear we need to get to that hospital ASAP NOW!" The EMT that had spoken before yelled to the pilot.

All Jesse could do was just stare and try and wrap his mind around how this was even possible. He knew that, for a fact, Jaden's back had been clear before they had left his room. Mrs. Fontaine, the nurse, had lifted up Jaden's shirt to check his breathing before they had left and his back was just fine then. So how in the world could this have happen in the short time they had been in the helicopter?

Jesse looked over at Jim and wondered about the gasp that had come from him. "Could what has happened to Jaden have something to do with Haou?" Jesse thought. "But that can't be possible; Haou doesn't have a physical form to cause damage to Jaden's back. So how did he do it if he doesn't have a body?" Jesse thought.

The sun had finally set when the hospital came into view. Jesse just hoped that when they got there they would have more answers then they had questions, because at that moment they didn't have a clue as to what was happening and why.

Why was this happening now? Why did Haou have to pick another fight? These and other questions were swirling around in everyone who knew the truth about Jaden was wondering. Alexis, Syrus, Chaz, Jesse, Jim, even the chancellor was wandering what was going on. He only had suspicions and educated guesses as to what was going on. But one thing was on everyone's mind at that moment in time and that was a prayer that Jaden would pull through.

And can he do it is on ours.

But that is entirely up to Jaden.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry if my titles make no sense at times. my mind is a strange and dangerous place to venture sometimes lol especially at 11 at night


	31. Chapter 31 No pain No gain

*back with Haou [it was inevitable]*

Haou was out for quite some time before he was able to regain consciousness. Every part of him hurt. Of course that was inevitable; he did just run himself through about 5 dozen or so mirrors so that he could cause enough damage to inflict corresponding wounds on Jaden. To this he smiled. He could live with the pain and ignore it to a point but Jaden would have a harder time doing so.

"Knowing that infantile idiot he's probably still out for the count; and was probably wailing enough to wake up the dead before that" Haou though with a smirk as he tried to stand. He had fallen forward on to his stomach when he'd lost consciousness, to which he was grateful since it probably saved him from making his own wounds fatal. And what would be the fun in that if he had died and taken Jaden with him before he could really enjoy hurting his counterpart.

Haou got as far as on his knees and elbows before the pain was too much and he had to stop for a second or risk passing out again. He was breathing hard and his blood was pounding in his ears so loudly he was surprised he heard a rustling and wining sound come from the right of him.

"What's your problem you crazy fluffy tennis ball? Are you worried about you poor little Jaden?" Haou said in a mocking baby talk voice, infuriating the little spirit even more as he rammed into that bars of his cage trying to get out.

"Hahahaha what do you think you're doing stupid? Even if you can get out of there, what are you going to do tickle me to death?" Haou laughed as Winged Kuriboh bounced back off the front of his cage one last time before lying down too exhausted to do much else but breathe heavily. He had been trying to get out of the cage Haou had trapped him in for the last hour that Haou had been unconscious with little success. He was worried about Jaden. He knew with all the crazy stuff Haou had been filling into Jaden's mind he would probably come to the conclusion that Winged Kuriboh had abandoned him; though in reality Kuriboh would never do something like that, not ever.

Haou smirked at the worried look on the little spirits face before turning his attention back on trying to stand. He knew this plan had risks towards himself, but he ignored them to accomplish his ultimate goal. And that made all the pain and risk worth it in the end. To become Supreme king once again; ruler of the dark dimensions, that would make it all worth it in the end. This time he would not fail in his objective.

Finally he was able to stand on his feet, a little wobbly but still on his feet. Only then did he start to think on how to go and start phase 2 of his plans against Jaden. The next part would be tricky and not to easy to do without Yubel knowing what he was up to since she was directly connected to Jaden. At this moment Haou's connection with Jaden was weak and he knew that the only way that was like that would be that she had taken Jaden to the last peaceful happy place in his mind. Somehow Haou would have to bypass all that good and spread doubt directly into Jaden's thoughts. The problem was he had too many protectors. He needed to get Jaden away from them. To this he had yet to find a way how. Yubel would be close on to Jaden's heals and he might get suspicious if she just suddenly up and vanished. He hadn't planted doubt about Yubel in his mind so her disappearance might not go to his plan as much as Winged Kuriboh's had. Though he was still surprised that that had worked out as well as it had. No he had to find away to get Jaden to get away from Yubel without Yubel knowing what was going on.

Then a spark of inspiration hit him, which made him smile evilly.

"This is going to be tricky to do but it might just work if I play my cards right" Haou said to himself. And with that Haou went off to start the next phase of his plans and put his idea into action. Leaving poor Winged Kuriboh behind to worry and wonder what Haou had up his sleeve next as Haou disappeared into the vast darkness of Jaden's mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you liked this chapter :) it was inevitable that we would have to come back to haou sometime or another lol unlike previous chapters he was the first character that popped in my mind for this chapter. with everything that has been going on in this fan fic he seem to me the logical choice to get the ball rolling in the right direction lol. anyway hope you enjoyed chapter 31
> 
> see ya in the next chapter :)
> 
> heartbreakerninja


	32. Chapter 32 The friend of my enemy is my Puppet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey there heartbreakerninja here! :D
> 
> sorry it took so long getting this up and it end up being a short one [SORRRRRRYYYY!] like i told a few of you already december is one of my busiest moths [with march or april being the second busiest because of easter] because of church christmas programs and choir concerts. but i finally was able to sit behind my laptop and type this up [at 2am lol] it also took me awhile cause of me having a decision problem on whether to go right into the hospital with jim or start back up with haou. as you can see by the title below i went with haou since we haven't heard from him much. [for being a the major villein i sure dont let him talk much lol] plus it will make the story run smoother... i think...and i hope. lol
> 
> anyway here's the next chapter of The Aftermath of Jaden [chapter 32 :D] never thought it would be this long but am so glad it is.
> 
> any way as always i love answering your questions so if you have any dont be shy i promise to answer them as best i can :)
> 
> anyway enjoy :D

*still with Haou*

Unbeknownst to winged Kuriboh or any of the other people in and outside of Jaden's head at the moment for that matter including Jaden himself, Haou had another prisoner to play with. Jaden never really used his E. hero Stratos in his deck except for maybe 2 or 3 times, because of not having any well put together strategies to use him with, so he wouldn't have noticed that Haou had also captured the metal warrior as well.

The spirit came into Haou's view a few minutes after leaving where Winged Kuriboh was being held. Haou had him chained by his hands to the invisible ceiling and had his feet changed to the invisible floor. Stratos was in a pitiful position at the moment. He was so tightly chained that it was impossible for him to even struggle in his bonds.

Haou watched him for a few moments, smirking at the spirits predicament as Stratos grunted in effort as he tried to break the chains around his wrists. Haou then moved into Stratos's line of vision causing the E hero to cease his struggling just to glare daggers in Haou's direction.

"Poor Stratos, you're in quite a pickle aren't you now?" Haou mocked; as he circled the helpless spirit. Then before Stratos's could even blink Haou was inches from his face.

"I have a special plan for Jaden and you are going to help me put it into action and don't even think of struggling and declining the offer you don't have a choice in the matter, hahahaha. Now this is going to hurt the more you struggle so I suggest you just settle down and let me into your mind and do as I wish." And with that said Haou grabbed a hold of Stratos's head and began to take control of his mind. Of course he struggled, but it was all in vain. Even though Jaden rarely used the E. hero, Stratos still saw his master as his friend and he would stick loyally to his side for as long as he could. Regrettably Haou's power and will were much stronger then Stratos and he soon had full control of the distressed spirit, closing off his consciousness to a far corner of Stratos's own mind. Only then did Haou release him from his bonds. As the E. hero landed Haou started ordering him to do his bidding.

"Now Stratos's, I am your new master. You will do exactly as I say or suffer the consequences." Haou told the spirit he now had under his control. He would have loved to use Winged Kuriboh before Stratos; but unfortunately Kuriboh's will power and bond with Jaden were a lot stronger than Haou had anticipated and he couldn't find a way to turn the little tennis ball on Jaden. So instead he decided to use a card spirit that Jaden didn't have regular contact with. That way he could deal with a spirit that's bond with Jaden wasn't as strong as the rest. He would have absolutely loved to use Neos but he would have been even harder to abduct then Winged Kuriboh and would have been just as hard to turn him against Jaden. His will and bond with Jaden were just as strong as Winged Kuriboh if not stronger.

It irritated Haou that he had to use a monster that was "last man on the totem pole" but he would work with what he had and what he had was E. hero Stratos.

Haou had directed Stratos towards a mirror that was reflecting Jaden as he was at the moment. [Unconscious and in pain]

"There is your target. Get him to follow you to this spot. Tell him that Winged Kuriboh is waiting for him but that Jaden has to come alone or he will be found out by Haou. And don't, under any circumstances let Yubel know you are there. " Haou himself told the mind controlled spirit.

Stratos nodded before taking off through the mirror towards Jaden to do his new masters bidding, leaving behind a cackling Haou behind him.

"Jaden will never know what hit him." Haou said to himself with a smirk as he turned back the way he came to pick up Wing Kuriboh for part 2 of his special plan for Jaden, cackling evilly all the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> see ya in the next chapter :)
> 
> heartbreakerninja


	33. Chapter 33 Order under chaos...or maybe not

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey there heartbreakerninja here.
> 
> wow so i had a big burst of inspiration plus a little push from in the right direction to get another chapter in lol well tadah here you are unfortunately its a little on the short side...ok a lot on the short side BUT thats because this is an in between chapter. its important to the story but its just to show whats going on at the same time to what was happening to haou. [i should really try and write up a time line for this so you guys can see whats happening at what time while something else is as well...]
> 
> anyway heres chapter 33 hope you enjoy :)

*back in the helicopter*

As soon as the chopper landed it was udder chaos. But Jim knew it was an orderly chaos that only trained medical specialist understood.

To him and Jesse it was a bombardment of yelling and thrashing limbs as the emergency helicopter EMTS got Jaden rolled off the chopper and into the building. Then it was a whirlwind of questions, one after another that Jim and Jesse tried to answer truthfully but still skim around the duel spirit stuff that would label them unreliable and crazy to the tens of doctors teaming around them.

There were doctors and nurses everywhere around them and Jaden. Some were taking his pulse while others were taking his temperature and of course some were playing 20 questions with Jim and Jesse, along with the rest of the doctors, trying to understand what happened to the usually healthy young energetic boy; all at the same time while moving the gurney he was laying on down the hall to a private room. Once there they started hooking Jaden up to multiple machines that did who knew what.

Jim knew this was what was going to end up happening but it still made him nervous and edgy to the point where he was ready to knock someone's block off into next week.

Jesse wasn't fairing much better. His eyes were only focused on Jaden; even after they were forced to leave the room while the doctors worked his eyes never left Jaden even through the door that led to his room. Jim had to almost literally drag him to the waiting room where, by that time, everyone else was waiting as well. It wasn't till Jim got Jesse down in a chair did he notice the duel disks on everyone else's arms. Axel noticed Jims look first.

"Chaz's idea; he figured that if Jaden wasn't able to stop Haou and you weren't able to get through to him this was plan D." Axel said

Jim gave him a strange look.

"Ok… if Jaden stopping Haou on his own is plan A, me snapping Jaden out of it to defeat Haou is plan B, and dueling Jaden/Haou is plan D; then what is Plan C?" Jim asked trying to figure out the missing lettered plan.

Everyone avoided Jim's eye and stayed silent not wanting to say what it was. Not even the usually cool headed Zane could look towards Jim. He had expected Chaz or Alexis to answer or even Axel. Surprisingly it was Syrus that answered Jim in a small pained quiet voice.

"Plan C is where we have the school nurse, Mrs. Fauntaine; put Jaden in an actual medically induced coma and trap Haou inside of Jaden by stopping him from being able to take over Jaden's body; for as long as it takes to find a way to defeat him." Syrus said almost at a whisper before he buried his head in his hands as silent harsh sobs racked his small frame.

well how was that for unexpected. will jaden's friends really try and go with this shocking plan or will something else intervene before hand?

see ya in the next chapter

heartbreakerninja

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well how was that for unexpected. will jaden's friends really try and go with this shocking plan or will something else intervene before hand?
> 
> see ya in the next chapter
> 
> heartbreakerninja


	34. Chapter 34 An Overflow of Emotion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey there heartbreakerninja here
> 
> and guess what? HAPPY NEW YEARS! and since its a new year i give you a new chapter! so here you go hope you enjoy :) sorry its taken me so long. i've been working on my other fan fic lately and kind of forgot to upload the chapter to this one lol oops. anyway here you go chapter 34 enjoy :)

*still in the hospital*

Jim couldn't say anything at first he just kind of stood there with wide eyes, a gaping mouth and a shocked expression on his face. The fact that his friends had come up with these series of plans was amazing in its self, but at the fact that they were ready to put Jaden in an actual coma instead of the self induced one he was in now before trying duel him was so crazy and outrageous he couldn't figure out how they came up with it. Then it hit him as he looked around the room at the faces of his friends. They had all had a taste of Haou one way or another and they weren't ready to face the full force of Haou even in the smallest bit. This is what Jim had come up with. Jim had seen it himself, Jesse sort of, Syrus, Zane, Aster, and even Axel had also come face to face with Haou's crazy dark power. That's what surprised him the most. That Axel and Syrus were going to agree to this especially Syrus.

Jim looked over to see what Jesse thought of this crazy plan and gave a small yelp of surprise at what he saw. Jesse's head was down making his bands cover his eyes. But that wasn't what was shocking. Jesse was absolutely shaking with rage. His teeth were clinched, his fists were in tight balls and his body was stiff and tense. Then he looked up and it looked like blue fire had ignited in his eyes. Then before anything could be said or done Jesse streaked across the room and grabbed Syrus by the collar and shook him as hard as he could.

"PUT HIM IN A COMA! PUT HIM IN A REAL COMA! HAVE YOU GONE INSANE? HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND? SINCE WHEN DO WE GIVE UP LIKE THIS? SINCE WHEN DO WE GIVE UP ON OUR FRIENDS LIKE THIS?" Jesse said in full throttled rage as he stopped shaking Syrus to look into his shocked eyes before he literally cried out his final statement. "Since when do we give up on Jaden?" Jesse finally released Syrus only to collapse against the wall behind him sobbing into his knees all the fight finally drained out of him.

No one knew what to say. No one knew what to do. All they could do was look down at their own hands lost in thought as they listen to Jesse's muffled cries. Even Jim couldn't think of a thing to do or say. All he could do was look around the room silently as his world crashed down around him. Not even Zane had a snide remark for this one. He was the only one to silently leave the room without notice and head towards Jaden's, now doctor free, room. He raised an eyebrow at the only nurse in the room who looked up at him with a gentle caring look on her face.

"There's nothing else the doctors can do for him. I'm sorry but all that's left to do is wait and see if he can pull out of it. At least his fever has gone down to a safer level so he's more stable then he was before he got here. You could try talking to him if you like. His brain waves show that he should still be able to hear what you say." The kind looking nurse said before bowing out of the room to give them more privacy.

Zane only stared at Jaden at first from across the room. One of the nurse's or doctors had taken him out of his school clothes and now had him in a hospital gown. Except for the wires and tubes connected to him, Zane could have sworn that Jaden was just sleeping. He looked so much more innocent and peaceful in the state he was in now then Zane had ever seen him after the first time Haou had taken over.

Zane moved across the room to sit in a chair near Jaden's bed before leaning forward, head in his hands, sighing in both tiredness and defeat. Having traveled down the dark path he knew somewhat of what it was like to be Haou. Intoxicated on power and strength; ready to do whatever it took to win and be on the top. No matter who it was you stepped on or destroyed to get where you wanted to go the darkness would make it so you would gladly do it to get to where it made you feel like that's where you wanted to go. And the most intoxicating and tempting part of it was the lack of emotion. Well not full lack thereof; but to a point that some emotions almost didn't exist such as pain and grief and fear. Especially pain and fear, the two greatest weaknesses of any human by Zane's book anyway.

Zane looked up and over at Jaden's sleeping form for a while. Not saying or doing anything; just sitting and watching. He used to do that for Syrus when he was younger. He'd just sit there and watch him sleep. But that was a long time ago.

"Come on Jaden; don't tell me that my friend and rival has grown soft and weak on me. Don't tell me that that's all you got. Can't you overcome Haou just like all the other obstacles you've face before? Or have you finally given up the fight?" Zane taunted trying to force a response from the unconscious boy beside him. Unfortunately he saw no signs of recognition from Jaden. So with that he sighed before getting up to walk through the door.

He walked a bit stiffly having just been able to kick the wheel chair he had been stuck in good bye for good. Even then he still had a strong proud aura around him. Not as dark as it once was but still quite dark for any one person.

Though if he had stuck around a little longer he would have noticed that Jaden's brain patterns had changed just a bit, just as he shut Jaden's door behind him to go back and join the rest of the group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yayayaya Zane! i like zane hes cool even when he went evil lol. i always thought that zane would understand jadens predicament better then most of the others so why not give him the chance to say as much lol any way hope you like it
> 
> see ya in the next chapter
> 
> heartbreakerninja


	35. Chapter 35  Have you given up the fight?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey there heartbreakerninja here
> 
> sorry it took so long getting this one up. working on 2 stories at once can give you a major case of writers block. not to mention the half a dozen times i kept getting the 2 story lines crossed lol.
> 
> anyway heres the next chapter :D

*back with Jaden*

Jaden opened his eyes slightly still lying motionless as Zane's voice floated through his mind.

"Zane?" Jaden said tiredly. Pain was still animated lightly in his voice. His back didn't hurt as much now but was still throbbing. He couldn't figure out why he could hear Zane's voice but stranger things had happened before so it wasn't impossible.

Jaden stirred a little, turning his head to look behind him. He saw Yubell slumped over sleeping. She was still very tired and all the strain from the last few hours had exhausted all her strength. Jaden didn't want to disturb her so he decided to take a little walk. He knew he shouldn't with Haou so close by but he couldn't help it he was restless. Plus the walk seemed to help his back a little.

He wished Winged Kuriboh was there and he wondered where Jim had gone. He hoped his friend was alright and that Haou hadn't done anything. On top of all that he also had Zane's words running through his head.

"Come on Jaden; don't tell me that my friend and rival has grown soft and weak on me. Don't tell me that that's all you got. Can't you overcome Haou just like all the other obstacles you've face before? Or have you finally given up the fight?"

Jaden shook his head to try and clear it. Was he really that weak? Jaden knew the answer to that. He did know that he was weak. He was weak and Haou was strong; too strong. But the part about giving up was what stung. Had he really given up? He wasn't sure. Sometimes it felt like it would be so easy to just let Haou have his way and just lay down in that dark space filled with mirrors and go numb to all that was going on. Just like in the other dimension when he had let Haou take control the first time, because he couldn't handle what he had caused to happen to his friends. The memories that that thought ensued left Jaden gasping for breath from the pain that it caused his heart.

Jaden was so lost in thought that he didn't noticed that he had walked too far and was back in the darkened corridors of his mind instead of being in the happy spot that Yubel and Jim had brought him to earlier. That is until he heard a strange yet familiar voice calling his name.

"Jaden…..Jaden….where are you Jaden?" the familiar voice said slowly and softly.

Jaden froze; then looked around him. Even though he was in his own mind he was having trouble pinpointing his exact location. This didn't really surprise him since Haou caused a lot of the darkness to be there in the first place.

"Hello? Who's there?" Jaden said fearing who would be the one to answer. It didn't sound like Haou but that didn't mean much.

Just then a lone large figure started to appear out of the darkness. Jaden recognized him immediately; even after not seeing him for a long while.

"Stratos?" Jaden asked with surprise. He hadn't expected to see Stratos out and about in his mind. But there he was right in front of him.

"Jaden…come…I have found Winged Kuriboh….he needs…..you." Stratos said with difficulty. It sounded to Jaden like he was choking on something when he tried to talk. But that didn't matter to Jaden at the moment. As soon as Stratos mentioned his furry little friend the world could have been under siege by Darth Vader and he wouldn't have cared. His friend was in trouble and needed his help.

"Take me to him." Jaden said. And they were off. Off into a trap that Jaden was blindly falling into without even realizing it.

Nor did he know that he was being watched.

*back with Haou*

Haou watched through the mirror he had been using to monitor his newest puppet. He was ticked that the E. hero was trying to fight his control which made his words come out weird but that didn't matter since Jaden didn't seem to take it as abnormal. He was following Stratos right into his trap. Jaden would once again be his and this time he wouldn't lose. He could already tell Jaden had self doubts. He knew everything Jaden was thinking. The twin of his soul didn't know how to hide his thoughts as well as Haou himself could. All he had to do know was play upon those doubts and Jaden would be his. Haou could already taste victory on the tip of his tongue and it was sweet.

"Now to set the gears in motion and you will be there to do just that." Haou said as he turned to the now very distraught Winged Kuriboh.

Winged Kuriboh knew it was now hopeless. Jaden would fall right into Haou's trap and then world would follow. There was no way out of it this time. No way anyone could stop it from happening. Haou was going to win and there was nothing they could do about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok sooo your probably wondering why darth vader ended up in the yugioh world. well its kind of funny. you see i wanted to say "the world could have been under siege by aliens" but then i was like; wait doesnt jaden have aliens in his deck...wouldnt that be a little weird if aliens were then being thought of taking over the world? so being the star wars freak fan that i am i gave it an honorable mention. i was going to go with wookies but that didnt sound right so i went with darth vader. jaden seems like a kid that would be a fan of star wars so why not make him one in my story? lol
> 
> anyway i hope you like this chapter i'll try and get the next one up faster. and as always i love reading your guy's reviews cause you guys help me become a better writer. especially the 2 or 3 of you that catch my mistakes. i thank you now for helping make this story better. if you got questions or have caught something that doesnt seem right in the chapters let me know and i'll do my best to fix it and give you an answer.
> 
> anyway
> 
> see ya in the next chapter
> 
> heartbreakerninja


	36. Chapter 36 Fatal Encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SOOOOOO SORRY IT TOOK ALMOST HALF A MONTH TO SUBMIT THIS!
> 
> ok so here's what happened i work at a sandwich shop called Subway. and every year we have a special sale where every sub on our menu becomes only $5 bucks. now this is a big deal because some of our foot long subs are expensive in my opinion. $7.75 all the way down to $5 bucks is a big deal in ohio believe me. well anyway this year for some odd reason we got super busy a week and a half BEFORE the sale even got started! no idea why but we did. so to compensate for A LOT of customers, everyone was working longer shifts and had less days off. [i was working close to 45 hours a week instead of my usual 30] so as you can imagine, i was dead tired by the time i got home and was in no mood to even lift the lid of my lap top to even read a manga let alone write a chapter to one of my stories. well anyway i finally had a couple of days off but didnt have time to start this chapter your about to read. well on Saturday i had the day off so when i got home i wasnt as tired so i was able to get some editing done so i could up load this chapter. yayay lol  
> now im going to stop typeing before i start rambling and so you can read the chapter lol
> 
> anyway hope you enjoy this chapter :)

*back with Yubel*

Yubel woke with a start. She hadn't known she had fallen asleep. She then got ticked at herself for sleeping. She was supposed to be keeping an eye on Jaden. How was she supposed to do that if she was asleep? Yubel looked around her then looked to the spot she left Jaden in only to find Jaden not there. Panic began to lace itself through her veins and up her spine.

"Jaden? Jaden where are you?" Yubel yelled as she franticly started to search the area for her charge only to come up empty handed. That's when she noticed she couldn't even sense Jaden's consciousness. It was as if he was under a veil of nothingness that blanked out his existence from her.

And so, as you probably already guessed, she started to panic even farther.

*back with Jaden*

Jaden was running just to keep up with the long strides of the E. hero Stratos but he still seemed to be pulling away from Jaden with each step.

"Stratos please slow down; I can't keep up!" Jaden huffed out as he ran faster, trying to catch up.

"Can't….slow…down….Winged Kuriboh is….just a little….further….this way." Stratos said still sounding like he was choking on his words. Jaden was starting to find that strange but he kept his thoughts to himself thinking that maybe this was just the way Stratos talked since he had never heard the E. hero speak before.

Jaden tried to put on more speed hoping to catch up to Stratos only to stumble from dizziness from breathing so hard. Jaden caught himself from falling completely by landing on his knees. When he got back up Stratos was already starting to disappear into the darkness that was around them like a thick overpowering dark cloak.

"Wait Stratos I can't catch up; your getting to far ahead of me!" Jaden shouted up to Stratos. But it was to no avail as Stratos disappeared into the darkness leaving Jaden alone.

"STRATOS!" WAIT PLEASE DON'T GO PLEASE WAIT!" Jaden shouted desperately up to Stratos; but he must not have heard because he did not return. Jaden stood there speechless. Shock was all he could feel at that moment.

Jaden didn't know where he was or how long he had been following Stratos. He looked behind him but couldn't see where he had come from. So he did the only logical thing. He walked forward hoping he would run into Stratos or find Winged Kuriboh on his own. He just hoped he wouldn't run into his darker half, Haou. Jaden shivered at the thought. He wished Jim was here. It had scared him when Jim wasn't there when he finally came to but he sort of figured out on his own that Jim couldn't stay in his mind all the time. He would have to return to his own eventually.

Jaden looked around as he walked. There was so much darkness around him. It was to the point that he could hardly remember what his mind had been like before Haou had been awaken the first time. Not that he spent much time within himself. It was just that he didn't know his own mind anymore. Winged Kuriboh had told him it wasn't as quiet and had little to no dark corners. It was the mirror image of the happiness he portrayed outwardly back in his first year at Duel Academy.

Jaden almost smiled at that. He remembered his first year. He almost didn't make it for the entrance exam. He had met so many people that year most friends but a few enemies as well. What he found funny now was how naïve he had been. Back then he thought if everyone would love the game and have a strong bond with their cards everything would be ok. No one would hurt anyone. Now he knew better. Not every problem could be solved with a well played strategy and a good pep talk. If that were true what happened at the beginning of 3rd year and all through the middle of it, would never have happened. Haou would never have been awakened. He would have never caused Jaden's friends so much pain. Jaden would never have caused his friends so much pain.

Jaden was surprised at himself when he felt tears running down his cheeks. He knew he shouldn't be crying. It was bad to show raw emotion anymore especially with Haou lying in wait to pounce at any doubt or fear he showed. But he couldn't help it anymore. He felt so alone, tired, and scared. Jaden made himself stop right there. These thoughts were going to get him no where except closer to the darkness that incased his mind. So he wiped away his tears and shook his head like a wet dog before trying to find the old determination that used to be a part of everything he did and set out to find Winged Kuriboh before something else happened. That's when he heard it.

It was a soft wine; almost to quiet to hear but Jaden recognized it right away. It was Winged Kuriboh. Jaden felt relief flood through him. His friend was still alive and hadn't disappeared. Jaden looked all around him trying to pin point the direction of the sound. He spun around so many times and so fast that he almost caused himself to fall down from dizziness. Then he heard Winged Kuriboh wine again; it was coming from the right of him. That's all he needed to know to get himself up and running blindly in that direction.

"WINGED KURIBOH WHERE ARE YOU! CAN YOU HEAR ME? IT'S ME JADEN; PLAESE TELL ME WHERE YOU ARE!" Jaden shouted as loudly as he could manage as he continued to run blindly through the dark corridors of his mind. That's when he finally saw him. Up ahead of him he saw his friend. Winged Kuriboh didn't look hurt but he was in some kind of cage. This should have sent warning bells off for Jaden but that didn't matter to him; Jaden was just so glad he was all right.

That's when everything went totally wrong.

Before Jaden could reach the cage that held Winged Kuriboh a dark shadow came out of the darkness and slowly walked in front of the cage that held Winged Kuriboh blocking Jaden's view. Jaden came to a stumbling halt a few feet away from the last person on Earth he wanted to see.

"Hello Jaden; it's so good to see you again." Haou said with an evil grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love how i ended this chapter. lol
> 
> anyway its funny but this originally started out as 2 chapters. a short yubel one and then the long jaden one. well i ended up puting them togeather cause the first part ended up being to short to even be a chapter so i tacked them together and made it one chapter instead.
> 
> anyway
> 
> see ya in the next chapter
> 
> heartbreakerninja :)


	37. Chapter 37 Broken wings and Painted lies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ITS FINALLY HERE! *insert parade and loud party here*...lol
> 
> hey there heartbreakerninja here
> 
> sorry this took so long my computer really hated me this month lol. my cord decided to get a hole in it [i haven't the slightest clue how this happened] and started sparking and smoking when i plugged it in. soooo i had to wait till my new cord came in the mail. been working on new chapters on my moms laptop but it wasn't fun because her's is really slow and her computer is smaller than mine. so glad to be back with mine :D 
> 
> anyway 
> 
> here you go but i have to say one thing THIS IS NOT A SHIPPING OF ANY KIND! i dont do spirt, self, or any of the other shippings when it comes to jaden and haou. i just dont roll like that lol i got asked on a different site that i use if this was a spirit shipping and i was like heck no. so i thought i would clear that all up now. yes haou likes to sound suductive when trying to get his way but that is all it is. him trying to get his way.
> 
> well with that said enjoy this chapter :)

*Haou and Jaden*

Haou watched without emotion at the shock and horror and most of all the underlined fear in Jaden's eyes as Jaden instinctively took a step back. Haou didn't move as he watched Jaden. It may have looked on the outside that he was unemotional but on the inside he was grinning devilishly at the effect he had on the boy in front of him. Jaden had begun to tremble, involuntarily, all over.

"It's so good to see you Jaden; and here I thought you didn't want to see me anymore." Haou said with a dark chuckle that had no humor behind it.

Jaden continued to tremble shocked into silence by the unexpected sight of his darker half. He tried to move but he found, no matter how hard he tried, that he could not get his feet to obey his minds commands. _**Move**_ , run, get, RUN, _**GO!**_ His mind screamed to his legs. No matter what he could not get them to respond.

"Don't be frightened Jaden I'm here with a most intriguing proposition for you; something that you won't want to miss out on." Haou said seductively. Jaden stopped his silent struggle since he didn't know how to react to that. Haou wanted to give him something? Why would he want to do that?

"W-what do you-u want H-Haou." Jaden said with a trembling voice.

Haou gave a dark chuckle as he watched the trembling boy before him. He could taste his victory already.

"You know what I want Jaden; but it's what I can give you for what I want that matters right now." Haou said alluringly. Haou watched the fear and confusion and the half hidden curiosity cross the smaller boys face as Jaden absorbed his last statement.

What could Haou possibly do or give him that would make him want to give Haou control again? Jaden watched Haou curiously but also cautiously; Haou likewise watched Jaden without showing the slightest bit of emotion.

"Whatever it is Haou I'm not giving you control again you will hurt people." Jaden said with as much force he could muster in his weakened and fear filled state. Haou stared down at Jaden still without showing the slightest bit of emotion. Jaden finally getting his legs to listen started to back away from Haou, however not far enough before Haou played his trump card.

"Why Jaden I thought you came here to save Winged Kuriboh!" Haou said in mock surprise. "Don't tell me you forgot about your furry little friend." Haou finished as he moved to the side so that Jaden could once more see the cage that held his little duel spirit friend captive. Jaden froze where he stood. Horror shot across his face at the sight before him.

"Well now that I have you attention these are the options I have for you. Either you give me control willingly and I free the fur ball or you don't give it willingly and the furry little tennis ball isn't going to be so cute and furry when I'm through with him." Haou said giving Jaden time to absorb the options that Haou set before him before Haou continued. "Jaden I don't have to be the bad guy here. You know full well that life is not black and white for ones like us, just shades of gray. You know that you yourself are no longer the pure being you once where, not after our first encounter. Just as I am not the complete dark being you first met. Emotions seem to do rub off on others." Haou explained trying to tempt Jaden into joining him chuckling a little at the end of his story showing only the slightest bit of irritation when it came to mentioning emotions.

"Come now Jaden join me. We can both rule this body and the world as one. We do not need to be separate beings no longer; we can be whole while still keeping our independence from each other. Jaden think of it; it would be glorious and oh so easy to concur this pitiful planet and then the other 12 dimensions." Haou urged. He knew full well that Jaden wasn't as pure hearted as he use to be. There was darkness rooted in his mind. Its darkened state was a testament to that. All it would take was a little prompting and coxing to get the ball rolling in the right direction; to get the wheels turning in Jaden's confused mind. He was so easy to manipulate. Of course being Haou's total opposite helped to; seeing as most of Haou's strengths ended up being Jaden's weaknesses. Being Jaden's other half meant that he knew everything about him. Haou knew all of Jaden's dreams, fears, doubts, hopes, strengths and weaknesses. Though the same could be said for Haou; Jaden being his other half would know all of Haou's dreams, ambitions, strengths and his, though he hated to admit them, weaknesses. Only Jaden never seemed to be able to act on them. If he did then he could have easily made this a tie.

This thought had been on Haou's mind a lot. Why hadn't Jaden used what he knew about Haou against him when Haou himself used Jaden's against him whenever he got the chance? Really what did he not use them to his advantage? Haou shook his head pushing the thoughts away and bringing his attention back to the events at hand.

Jaden was shocked to say the least. Haou didn't leave any room for negotiations on this. Jaden knew that he couldn't give in but he didn't want Winged Kuriboh to get hurt. He was so confused; he didn't know what he should do. Should he let Haou take control and hope that his friends could save him again? No he couldn't always hope that his friends would do that; or could for that matter. Axel had only just beat Haou when he fought him to save Jaden and only cause he had the eye of Oricalcome. Jaden bit his lip and odd habit he hadn't done in a long time. He was so unsure of himself. Haou had really done a number on his confidence. Jaden took one last look at Winged Kuriboh.

Finally Jaden lowered his head. His tears were starting to come to his eyes.

"Ok Haou you win."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> insert dun dun dun daaaa music here [think Belt from Croods lol]
> 
>  
> 
> oh FYI: the title of this chapter is also the title of one of my poems in my dark life poetry series on fictionpress.com check it out if you like :D


	38. Chapter 38 Mysterious Materialization's

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey there heartbreakerninja here.
> 
> sorry this has taken so long to get up the last chapter was set up to go a number of ways and i couldnt decide which way i wanted to go first. but i finally decided on jim because jim *SLIGHT SPOILER SORRY* is a main part in this story. dont worry we'll get back to jaden later. first i have to get through the other characters cause they havent had much spot light time. lol anyway hope you enjoy chapter 38. 
> 
> to think that this has gone on this long. im surprised i've kept up with writing it with out calling a quits lol dont worry i dont plan to any time soon
> 
> see ya in the next chapter!
> 
> heartbreakerninja :)
> 
> ps SORRY ITS SO SHORT!

*back at the hospital*

Jim headed towards Jaden's room. The doctor told them that they could go in either one at a time or in small groups no bigger than 3 people at a time. Jim had decided to go in alone since Jesse didn't seem up to it. After he had cried himself out he had just sat there on the floor leaned against the wall staring into space. He hadn't even stirred from that spot even when Jim had said he was going to see Jaden. He hoped that Jesse would snap out of it by the time he got back.

Jim turned the corner to Jaden's room just as Zane was coming out. It was strange; Jim had seen him here or there on campus and again here at the hospital but no one really seem to be aware of his presence. Not even Syrus, who looked up to his brother, seemed to notice him. This seemed odd to him that Zane would be here as he wasn't anywhere near by when the others were told. Jim saw Zane head towards the other hall way in the opposite direction as the group. Thinking maybe he had gotten turned around Jim tried to flag him down.

"Hey! Zane wait up; the group is in the opposite direction." Jim said loudly up to Zane. But it was like Zane hadn't even heard him as he disappeared around the corner. Jim sped up hoping to he would catch him around the corner; but when he got there Zane was nowhere in sight. Jim was bewildered, this was just a closed in hall way. No rooms where there for him to go into and the hallway was pretty long so he couldn't have beaten him to the end of the hallway yet.

Jim shook his head before heading back to Jaden's room. He would deal with Zane later; right now Jaden needed him more. He had a bad feeling that leaving before Jaden had wakened back up inside his own mind wasn't going to end well.

Jim could hear the beeping from the machines that Jaden was hooked up to before he even opened the door. It saddened him even more to see Jaden in the state he was now. Jaden had tubes and wires leading from him to the machines around him and back again. His skin was still very pale from the healthy glow it should have had. Even though he had been a sleep for a while now, the purple blue bruises under his eye lids where still very prominent. Jim could also see the scars near his neck that he knew Haou had caused. Jim had to look away from Jaden before he would end up breaking down right there in the door way. He knew what he needed to do and he had to do it now before the others came to see Jaden.

Taking a deep breath Jim entered the room and sat in the chair next to Jaden. He sat there for a long while just watching Jaden's still slightly labored breathing. The doctors overseeing Jaden's case had said that Jaden had at least 2 broken ribs that they guessed were caused by him falling to the ground when Jim had found him. Being as weak and undernourished, along with being anemic as he was now, it had caused his body to not be able to handle the small fall. His small frame had not helped either. If he had been his healthy usual self the fall would probably have only caused some mild bruising maybe a fracture if he would have hit a small rock or tree root. That they said was what caused his breathing to be a bit irregular. Jim was just glad that when he had picked him up he hadn't caused anymore damage along with when Jaden had been thrashing around back in his dorm. It was a wonder how he hadn't punctured a lung doing that.

A sudden seed up in Jaden's heartbeat caught Jim's attention. Jim was about to get a small young nurse when one came walking in the door. She had a small smile on her lips when she saw Jim.

"Oh I see Jaden has another interesting visitor." The small nurse said. She wasn't small as in height wise; [though she was shorter then Alexis] but she had a child like look to her; though she had to be in her 20's to work at the hospital. Her statement had also taken Jim by surprise as he didn't know exactly what she meant. But she didn't give Jim a chance to ask what she meant.

"Don't worry Jaden is alright. Just something in his mind got his heart rate going a little." She said as she left the room. Jim got up to go after her

"Wait! What did you mean by another…?" Jim said as he got to the hall. Only to find that she to, just like Zane, had disappeared without a trace. Jim scratched his head under his hat. He knew he knew that nurse, or at least seen her, from somewhere but he couldn't put his finger on it. And then how she said that statement about Jaden's heart rate. She had said something IN his mind not ON his mind. How had she known about that?


	39. Chapter 39 Past comes to light while darkness swallows all else

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol hey there heartbreakerninja
> 
> happy early easter everyone heres my easter gift to you, a very long awesome early chapter! hopefully you guys like this chapter better than the last [sorry it was so short and kind of dumb i was having writers block lol] but this one is HUGE! im surprise it got so long. i probably could have broken it into 2 chapters but i didnt want to plus i was on a roll. this one is like 9 word doc pages and 2,924 words!
> 
> well anyway enough about it go and read it lol hope you enjoy it :) and as always i LOVE getting your reviews. you guys make me smile and even laugh at time i really enjoy reading them. i always check to see if i have new ones any way enjoy :)

*back with Jaden*

He hated him. He hated him so much at the one moment. But... at the same time he didn't because then he would also have to hate himself because Haou and he were of the same spirit. It was a mixed emotion that Jaden despised and wished that, for once, it be something that wasn't so complicated like everything else in his life as of late.

Jaden looked at the ground hands balled into shaking fist. He couldn't look at Haou. He wouldn't look at Haou. He couldn't look at Winged Kuriboh just behind him. He couldn't look at the mirror forming behind him; that would be used for who knew what. He couldn't look at Stratos who had appeared behind Haou. He wasn't angry at Stratos he knew Haou had some kind of hold on him. Only now could he sense it; the clouded haze that was overshadowing the E hero. He was so frantic earlier that he hadn't even notice it. Jaden berated himself for being so careless; then taking a deep breath before letting it out again and continuing from where he had left off.

"You win Haou. You win but only if you free Stratos and let Winged Kuriboh go and not hurt Yubel." Jaden said still refusing to look at anything but his shoes. He knew if he did his resolve would falter and Haou would truly have him; but not only that he knew if he looked up he would fall apart and that wouldn't help anything.

Jaden waited in the silence for Haou to answer. But the silence was just that; silence. Not a word was coming from Haou. Jaden didn't want to look up but not hearing anything from Haou was driving him crazy [or crazier] and he couldn't take it much longer.

With a shaky breath Jaden looked up.

*back with Jim*

Jim turned from the door still wondering about the strange nurse and Zane's disappearances. He had a rescue mission to complete though so he pushed all other problems and mysteries away for now. Jaden's plight was more important now than anything else.

Jim again sat in the chair beside Jaden, sighing as he settled into the slightly uncomfortable chair. He then looked over at Jaden's sleeping form. Contemplating the outcomes of what could happen in the next hour or so.

Then with a deep breath and a heavy sigh Jim opened up to the power of the Eye of Oricalcome and jumped headlong into Jaden's mind. He concentrated on coming up to Yubel's spirit because he was worried about accidentally ended up with Haou since Jaden and his spirits were so closely linked. It was safer to look for her then for Jaden since they were together. He just hoped Yubel was able to keep Jaden calm with him not being there for while.

As soon as Jim was in Jaden's mind he knew something was off. The bright happy place that was in Jaden's mind was slowly shrinking. Already the color was almost completely drained away leaving behind the same darkness that was everywhere else in Jaden's tormented mind. Jim began to frantically look around for Yubel and Jaden. It wasn't a good sign that he didn't see them right away.

"Jim!" a slightly relieved voice yelled behind him. Jim spun around to see Yubel flying over to him, but to his shock and fear, without Jaden.

"Yubel what's going on, where's Jaden?" Jim said in a rush as he met her half way.

"Yubel looked fearfully into Jim's eyes, tears now visible in her teal and orange colored eyes.

"Jim I'm sorry I only nodded off for a second. I didn't even know I did till I woke up. I didn't think I was so tired. If I know I would have stayed standing. I…" Yubel said in a rush before Jim cut her off.

"Yubel slow down what are you talking about? What happened; where's Jaden?" Jim said fearing Yubel's next answer.

"I don't know." Yubel said with a shaky sob. Showing how close she was to loosing it.

Jim wheeled around looking frantically in all directions trying to see, to sense, where Jaden consciousness was hoping he wasn't too far away but fearing what state he would be in, and who he would be with.

Jim finally pinpointed Jaden's location; but to his horror Jaden wasn't alone.

*Axel*

Axel walked silently down the hall. He couldn't take sitting in the waiting room with the others any longer. The despair and fear there was too thick that it was choking him. So he had left without a word. He hadn't been heading anywhere at first but soon found himself just outside the door to Jaden's hospital room. He hesitated at first not sure whether it was a good idea or not to go in. he knew Jim was in there and knew Jim was probably going to use the eye or Oricalcome. Axel had experienced it before and wasn't real thrilled about the prospect of doing that again. But if it would help save his friend he would do it and then some.

With that thought holding his resolve together, Axel pushed open the door. As he walked in he could already see the eerie red glow coming off of Jim. He saw that Jim's eyes were closed as if he had fallen asleep there in the chair. But Axel knew better. Jim was in Jaden's mind.

Axel hesitated again. Should he try and use the eye to help Jim help Jaden? Or should he just sit and watch and wait till Jim came back to himself? Axel didn't know what to do but he knew he had to do something. He couldn't just turn his back on Jaden and Jim. Not after all that they had gone through. Not after he had faced that fear head on already. He couldn't do that to his friends. Not again.

Steeling his resolve Axel walked over to Jaden's bed and sat down on the floor between Jaden's bed and Jim's chair. He then tentatively touched Jaden's hand and Jim's before closeting his eyes and joining his friends.

*Alexis and Chazz*

Alexis sat in the waiting room rubbing Syrus's small shoulders as the boy lay slumped up against her. He had cried himself to sleep after the confrontation with Jesse. Alexis sighed and looked over at the teal headed boy on the floor. Jesse hadn't moved from that spot since he had stopped crying. He had just sat there. He was leaned against the wall behind him. He had his right leg pulled up close to his chest with his right arm draped across his knee. He had his head laid back against the wall looking blankly at nothing. Alexis was a little worried he was stuck in shock but didn't know what to say to snap him out of it. So she had just watched him and tried to comfort Syrus the best she could. She looked around at who else was left in the waiting room.

Jim had left to visit with Jaden a little bit ago. She had a feeling as to what he was going to try to do so she hadn't tried to stop him when he had left. Axel had gone for a walk not that long ago but she knew that he would probably end up in Jaden's room as well.

She looked over at where her brother Atticus and Chazz where standing both on their cell phones. They were both, on request from Chancellor Shepherd, trying to get a hold of at least one of Jaden's parents; so far not with much luck. Alexis had never met either of them. Jaden didn't say much about them either. All she knew about them was from the story that Shepherd had told them when the whole mess with Yubel had happened. She had once asked Syrus if he knew anything about them to which he had said that he didn't know much more than she did. Surprisingly it was Chazz that had known the most about them.

*flash back*

Alexis was in the TV room that Chazz had had built onto the Slifer's dorm building. Jaden was still in his room. No one was had yet been able to get him out of there. Jesse being left behind while they had all been transported here had really knocked him for a loop. No one had yet been able to convince him that it wasn't his fault.

Alexis thought about the story of Jaden's past that Shepherd had told them a while ago. Jaden had never spoken of his parents or much about his past for that matter either. It shocked her that it had never been brought up before now. She had asked Syrus, after Shepherd had left, if he knew anything about Jaden's parents but surprisingly he had shaken his head.

"Sorry Alexis I don't know any more than you. I've asked Jaden about them before but he hardly says two words about them. He always finds away to change the subject." Syrus had told her before he had left to see if he could get Jaden to eat something.

Alexis sighed as she leaned back into the couch she was sitting on. She was tired but she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep till she knew Jaden was alright.

"So you want to know about Jaden's parents huh?" a voice behind came from behind Alexis making her jump off the couch and turn to see who was behind her.

Chazz leaned against the wall by the door above her, one eye brow raised to her startled reaction.

"Oh Chazz sorry you startled me, I didn't hear you come in." Alexis said as Chazz pushed himself off the wall and came down and sat on the couch that Alexis had been sitting on a second before.

Chazz shrugged at her comment as he stared off into space lost in thought. Alexis sat down again and watched him for a second before speaking.

"So how come you know about Jaden's parents but not Syrus?" Alexis questioned. It seemed strange that Chazz, who hardly liked Jaden, knew more than Jaden's best friend.

"Found out the summer of our second year that they've worked with my parent's before on a business project. Over summer break when I found out I had asked them about it." Chazz answered. Alexis was a little shocked but didn't let it show on her face.

"So what did you find out?" Alexis asked. Chazz looked at her then back at the wall in front of him before answering.

"Well for starters the reason Jaden doesn't say much about them is because he hardly knows them." Chazz said curtly with a sad look on his face.

"Hardly knows them? How can that be?" Alexis asked a little shocked that Jaden was so estranged from his own parents.

"It's not what you think Alexis. Jaden use to have horrible nightmares when he was a kid. They got so bad that he wasn't sleeping and had stopped eating. His parents had taken him to a clinic that specialized in childhood psychology. They have a procedure that can suppress memories that where causing his nightmares. It worked but part of a side effect was he lost a lot of his memory of his parents. He knew who they where and that they loved him but other than that he didn't know them. It was a pretty hard thing for them to find out." Chazz explained to a very horror struck Alexis. The thought of forgetting one's parents hit her hard it was so horrible.

"Chazz that's awful what did they do?" Alexis exclaimed.

"They did everything they could. They showed him old family videos, pictures, letters, anything to try and jog his memory. It actually took a picture of Jaden holding a duel monster card up while sitting on his dad's lap to jog even the smallest part of his memory. After Shepherds story I bet you can figure out which card that could be." Chazz told her. It didn't take her long to put two and two together and know exactly what card Chazz was implying at.

"Yubel." Alexis said in almost an awed whisper. Chazz nodded his head.

"Bingo. Jaden hadn't forgotten her completely though he did try and suppress any thought of her. But his parents were ecstatic that he remembered his father giving it to him. Slowly Jaden regained bits and pieces of his memory of his parents but not enough to truly put everything together. Even to this day he still has holes in his memory. His parents, even though it may have saved his life, regret going though with that procedure even to this day. Jaden never really recovered his relationship with them since they were gone a lot again after that on business trips. I also found out that they actually where opposed to him even going here to duel academy. They hardly saw him as it was; having him gone for the whole school year made their relationship that much harder. Every time he goes home for the summer they spend as much time as the can with him and try to convince him to go to school closer to home, but he won't be convinced otherwise. He, as they put it, is happier here then he is at home with them." Chazz finished with a said sigh.

*end of flash back*

Alexis again looked over to her brother and Chazz. It had shocked her to learn about Jaden's parents to say the least. She had wanted to talk to Jaden about it many times but had promised Chazz that she wouldn't. He said that Jaden's parents didn't want to push it on Jaden too much. So she had said nothing all the while wishing she could.

"Thank you ma'am I will await your call." Chazz said with a sigh of relief into the phone before closing it and coming over to where she and Syrus where sitting.

"That was Mrs. Yuki's assistant. She says that Mr. and Mrs. Yuki are supposed to return today from a business trip over in the United States in about an hour or two. She says that as soon as they get off the plane she will inform them about Jaden's condition. Atticus is on the phone with Shepherd now letting him know. He should be over here in a bit." Chazz said as he fell into a chair beside Syrus tiredly as he leaned on his knees putting his head in his hands while sighing tiredly. It had been a way to long day and it wasn't even over yet.

Chazz hopped that they didn't have to resort to plan C even more now. It would kill Jaden's parents as it was to see Jaden as he was now. It would finish them off if they knew the full extent of it. Not that they would be clueing them in any time soon. That was up to Jaden to decide not them. Hopefully he would get the chance.

As the thought struck him, Chazz had a really bad feeling about Jaden. Something was wrong but he didn't know what.

Maybe it was time he took a trip over to Jaden's room to see him.

*Chancellor Shepherd*

"Thanks Atticus I'll be down as soon as I can to see Jaden and to see how you guys are holding up. See you then." Shepherd said putting his phone down to end the call. He put his head in his hands sighing to himself tiredly as he rubbed his bald scalp. It had been a long day. He had been on the phone with a hundred different people today. So many in fact that he had to have Chazz try and call his parent to see if he could use their connections with Jaden's parents to get a hold of the Yuki's. He had been on the phone with everyone from the doctors at the hospital to Maxamillion Pegasus.

Mr. Pegasus had an eye on Jaden ever since his first major school duel win. He had been getting updates on the boy for a while now and Shepherd had known that the multi-billionaire and duel monster card creator would want to know what was happening with Jaden.

Pegasus was one of the only outsiders that knew Jaden's full story. Not even Seto Kiba knew that much about his schools star duelist. Not that he would believe them if he was told. He had a habit of trying to pretend that he didn't believe in magic and duel monster spirits and the like. Shepherd shuddered. Speaking of their schools fonder; Shepherd had yet to inform him of Jaden's condition. Shepherd hesitated for a second on that. Maybe he would wait till after the Yuki's arrived and he had gone down to the hospital himself before he made that call. He didn't know if he could handle a bout with Kiba at that moment. No he would wait till after before he called him.

Shepherd sighed as he got up from behind his desk and headed out for his private helicopter that was standing ready for him; time to see how Jaden was faring.

For some odd reason shepherd had a bad feeling about Jaden but he shrugged it off as worry for his favorite student as the chopper lifted off the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> see told ya it was long.
> 
> see ya in the next chapter :)
> 
> heartbreakerninja


	40. Don't Shoot the messenger

* back at the main land*

In a very busy terminal at The Intercontinental and Transnational Airport [no this is not a real airport…that I know of]; a petite, blond haired blue eyed, young woman stood nervously at the terminals plane exit door. She wore a very pretty blue suit and skirt outfit that complemented her figure nicely. In her hand she held a note book that she kept fidgeting with, turning it this way and that, in her nervousness; while every once in a while readjusting her glasses. She hated to be the bearer of bad news. The old saying "Don't shoot the messenger" ran through her head having her chuckling nervously as she waited.

Finally the doors to the plane exit opened as people began to file out. The Blond haired woman looked up expectantly knowing that her employers rode first class so they'd be one of the first out. This information did nothing to quell her dread. How was she going to tell them what happened? She had been shocked and almost fainted when she had found out. And now she was the one to have to bring the tidings of misfortune to the family that she had long ago grown fond of. She looked down at her note book where she had been writing duel strategy's for an old friend. They were incomplete since she rushed out to meet her employer at the airport. She didn't even know why she brought it let alone why she was still holding it.

"Well isn't this an interesting surprise, we didn't think you'd be the one to greet us back Rebecca!" A smiling older woman said snapping Rebecca out of her musing as she and her husband approached the young woman.

"Yes well it was a little unplanned." Rebecca said with a weak smile. She looked at her employers still trying to figure out how to tell them. Unfortunately the older woman's husband noticed her unease.

"What's wrong Rebecca? You look a little upset. Don't tell me your friend Joey got himself kicked out of his house by Mai again did he? If so you know you just have to let us know and we'll be happy to have him over till she cools down." The older man said chuckling a little at the end. Rebecca looked down at her hands before she answered.

"No Joey and Mai are fine they are actually getting ready for a duel competition this week." Rebecca said slightly stalling for time. Her employer tilted his head in confusion. He could tell something was upsetting his wife's and his secretary he just couldn't tell what exactly was upsetting the poor girl.

Rebecca let out a shaky sigh before finally telling the couple the truth. There was no use stalling anymore.

"Ma'am I have received some terrible news regarding your son."


	41. Chapter 41 confrontation is, as always, Eminent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heartbreakerninja here.
> 
> sorry its been so long. been busy with starting my new job :D

*back with Jim*

Jim was racing down the dark halls of Jaden's mind with Yubel not far behind him. He didn't need her to lead him the Jaden this time; the power of his eye would lead him straight to his friend. Unfortunately he didn't know what condition he was going to find him in since from as far as he can tell Haou was still with him and that was never a good thing especially since Jaden was in such a dark place in his mind. The farther Jim and Yubel went the darker it got. It was getting to the point that the only thing Jim could see was the red glow of his eye and the tiny light that stood for Jaden.

"Jim I don't know what Jaden is going through right now but I don't think it's good. His mind is darkening worse than it was before. Whatever Haou is doing its making things worse." Yubel said to Jim worriedly.

Having a direct link to Jaden she had a better feel of what Jaden was feeling but with him being so close to Haou's consciousness it was hard for her to tell the two of their emotions apart. It use to be easy when Jaden was the only one who showed a vast amount of emotions; but ever since the time when Haou took over Jaden's mind and Jaden was broken free some of Jaden's emotional tendencies past over their mental link and caused Haou to have some of them. Not as vastly as Jaden but still more than he had before. Thus this made it hard for Yubel to tell which one was feeling what with them being so close together.

"Don't worry Yubel whatever's going to happen we'll get through it, Jaden has a habit of bouncing back from most anything fast and that habit seems to be contagious because he's past it around to the rest of us." Jim said with a shaky chuckle as he tried to reassure Yubel with the predicament they were in again. Yubel gave him an answering chuckle as she shook her head at the thought since she knew he was right.

Suddenly Jim halted causing Yubel to bump into his back almost falling down behind him.

"Jim what the heck is with the sudden stop!" Yubel exclaimed rubbing her forehead from the impact with the back of Jim's head.

"Shhhh, look." Jim said as he pointed over into the distance. Yubel looked out behind Jim's head to see what he was pointing at. In the distance she saw Haou sitting on what looked like a throne. She could just make it out several of his mirrors surrounding him and the throne. They were about 2 feet away from the throne placed in a circle around it so that were ever you turned a mirror would be directly in front of you.

Then Yubel noticed something that made her gasp. Seated on a pillow leaned up against Haou's leg was Jaden. He had that vacant look in his eyes again; his eyes the bone chilling goldish yellow. Even from the distance they were standing she could tell Jaden was watching the mirror in front of him, and whatever he was seeing it was causing a look of agony to play across Jaden's vacant face.

He looked totally defeated sitting there unmoving. She could also see something else that set Jim's blood to the boiling point. Haou had his hand on top of Jaden's head and was stroking it like he would a pet cat. It was like Jaden was nothing more than a mere pet for Haou to play with.

Jim had only one thought on his mind. 

This had to stop and he had to be the one to do it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so have i shocked and horrified you?
> 
> sorry but hey i love causing mischief within my stories its my favorite part of writing but hope you liked this chapter just the same.
> 
> see ya in the next chapter,
> 
> heartbreakerninja


	42. Chapter 42 The truth among a bed of lies...or is it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey there heartbreakerninja here,
> 
> bet you didnt expect to see this up so soon lol. ya well i was on a roll and couldn't help myself so here is the aftermath [pun intended lol] anyway hope you like this next chapter. i kind of left you guys hanging in the last chapter with the reaction of WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED? and WHAT THE HECK DID I MISS? so here's the what the heck happened and what the heck you missed lol [sorry] so now you know or will know after you read this anyway lol so go on and read it hope you enjoy and let me know what ya think :)
> 
> see ya in the next chapter
> 
> heartbreakerninja :)

*before that with Jaden*

Jaden looked up and look right into Haou's eyes and froze. His eyes were completely emotionless. He tried to look away but the vast emptiness of Haou's eyes drew him in and before Jaden knew it he was walking forward till he was with in arms length of Haou.

"You see we are drawn together; no matter how you try to turn away, no matter how you try to run you will never get too far. We are connected." Haou said tauntingly reaching out to hold Jaden's chin in his hand causing Jaden to shiver involuntarily.

Jaden would have been stuck like that forever if it wasn't for Winged Kuriboh freaking out in his cage trying to reach Jaden in any way he could.

"KURIIIIIII!"

Jaden snapped his head up and noticed exactly just how close he was before turning to high tail it out of there. But before he could get more than a foot he turned right into a mirror causing him to stop dead in his tracks. No one could see exactly what it was that Jaden was seeing; but whatever it was he was frozen in place once again. You could see pure terror in his eyes as he tried to back away only for Haou to come up behind him and gently but firmly grab a hold of his shoulders and hold him in place.

"Don't turn away from the truth Jaden. This is who you truly are. This is what we can do and no one can stand in our way. We can accomplish so much as one; don't make me take away your will to fight. You know I can if I so choose to, but I wish so much that you and I could take this world as ours together. Those insignificant beings are not worth your heart. They are unworthy of your care. You are a superior being to them. You are a prince of the lost kingdom of Neos. You are the vessel in which my power is to flow; to create or destroy whatever we wish." Haou said into Jaden's ear as Jaden continued to stare at the phantom images in the mirror before him.

If one was to look through Jaden's eyes they would see exactly what Haou had placed before Jaden. At first it was the many of the words told to him by Viper and the adults around him turned around once again to attack him. Telling him how he was a selfish duelist who only dueled for himself and that he only exploited others for his own personal gain. Then with Haou's next words the images changed to reshow his duel in which his friend's souls were put up as a sacrifice. All to bring forth the super polymerization card only for them to be sacrificed in vain because there wasn't enough to create it; all showing how Brron exploited Jaden's love for his friends to drive him over the brink of despair. Then came how, by using his anger, he destroyed Brron.

During all of this Jaden never looked away his whole being transfixed on what Haou was telling him and what he was before him. Then as Haou stopped speaking in his ear the scene continued on to what happened next in chronological order.

The scene then continued to show how the rest of his friends seemingly abandoned him in his darkest hour. And of course Haou's words to Jaden about how he could finish the super polymerization card and make its power his. Thus letting the ruler of the dark world, the Supreme king to posses him and take control.

Then something unexpected was shown before Jaden. It was his duel with Yubel; but only a certain part; the part where he used the power of the Supreme king to help destroy her monsters with his power.

"You see now Jaden don't you? You see what you truly are and what we are together. We are the Supreme king; we are the true rulers of the 12 dimensions. Join me Jaden. Join me and you will never feel pain again. You will never be hurt by another person again. Join me and this nightmare will end." Haou said causing more image's to play across the screen again at the end of he's speech.

"But you'll hurt people, my friends." Jaden was finally able to say. The hypnotizing sound of Haou's voice and the phantom images on the mirror were hard to pull away from long enough to articulate a statement let alone a lone sentence.

Jaden didn't want to give in but it was becoming hard to resist as his sorrows began to weigh down on his mind and heart. On top of that he was so tired; so very tired. Tired of living with these burdens and so tired of having to keep going on. He just wanted to lie down and rest. Just rest and to not get back up. Why couldn't someone else deal with all this pain? Why only him? Why was all this happening again; he couldn't take much more grief and pain. Haou's offer was becoming so much easier to give in to. He could just let go and let Haou do all the rest. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad this time. Maybe Haou wouldn't hurt people this time. He was just so tired. Maybe if he just laid down for a bit he could think more clearly.

Jaden's eyes began to droop as these and other thoughts ran through his foggy mind. He was totally exhausted both mentally and physically. Even in a comma his body was still trying to recover from being so sick and run down and Haou wasn't helping. It was getting to the point that, once again, Jaden was starting to wobble and not be able to stand on his feet. Haou seemed to be the only thing that was holding him up. Haou smiled.

"Come now Jaden why don't you sleep. You're so tired; you need your rest. Don't worry I won't hurt you, you know I can't, just lay back and rest." Haou whispered to Jaden hypnotically. Jaden couldn't resist he was so tired. He tried to keep his eyes open but it was like a force was pushing his eyes close and he couldn't push back.

"No I can't, but I'm so tired. So tired." Jaden almost mumbled.

"Oh Jaden it's ok just close your eyes. You don't have to fight anymore if you don't want to; just touch the mirror in front of you and everything will be alright. You can sleep as long as you like. Just touch the mirror and you can rest." Haou said has he lifted Jaden's arm up. Jaden was so tired that he didn't even try to resist. What would a little sleep hurt? He just couldn't fight anymore.

And with that Jaden put the tips of his fingers on the mirror and everything went black as he fell limp in Haou's arms. Jaden closed his eyes only to open them back up. Only instead of his usual milk chocolate eyes they were replaced with Haou's ominous yellowish gold colored eyes.

"Everything's alright now Jaden; just rest and I'll take care of the rest." Haou said with a smirk as he carried Jaden over to a throne that appeared before him. He then sat down with Jaden laying against his leg while rubbing the younger boy's hair soothingly as Jaden drifted farther away in his awakening dream world that Haou had him trapped in.

"Now we just await our other uninvited guest to arrive." Haou said to no one in particular as he waited for Jim and Yubel to arrive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and now everything is caught up chronologically...i think...*shrugs*
> 
> see ya in the next chapter
> 
> heartbreakerninja


	43. Chazz makes a rookie mistake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey there heartbreakerninja here
> 
> did you miss me? sorry this took so long i couldn't decided the location of the next chapter but i can't torture jaden all the time so the location was decided by that lol any way i hate writer's block! it drives me crazy! i couldn't get into this chapter for nothing! then all of a sudden it was like BOOM hit me like a ton of bricks [sorta was still slow going] so i know its short but this chapter's kind of like a lead in for the next chapter.
> 
> ok so i would like to thank the following for sticking with me :)

*back in the hospital*

Alexis was getting worried, and though he wouldn't admit it, so was Chazz.

Jesse hadn't moved for the past 3 hours. He was still in the same spot he slumped into when Syrus and he had their confrontation. His eyes were still facing forward with one arm across his leg. Alexis didn't know what she was going to do. One friend in a coma was as much as she could take. They all needed to be strong at this moment. They needed to keep it together or they wouldn't be able to help Jaden.

"That's it I can't this one second longer!" Chazz yelled as he stood up suddenly and stomped over to Jesse causing the rest of the group to jump and Syrus to wake up with a start. The only ones to not be affected by Chazz's outburst were Atticus and Jesse himself. Atticus cause he was a sleep and he could sleep through a hurricane and Jesse cause he was still in the slumped state he'd been in for the past 3 hours.

"Ok Jesse this has gone on for long enough WAKE THE HECK UP! SNAP OUT OF IT ALREADY!" Chazz literally yelled in Jesse's face. Unfortunately he got no response, not even a flinch; Jesse just sat there staring straight through Chazz as if he wasn't even there. This of course infuriated Chazz farther by Jesse's lack of response. And when Chazz gets infuriated of course the Ojama brothers have to come and attempt to calm him down.

"Hey boss, maybe if you try getting the gem beast to snap him out of it." Ojama yellow offered with his brothers nodding in the background. Unfortunately that just got them the usual Chazz like response.

"WILL YOU TWIRPS KNOCK IT OFF! Don't you think I already thought of that?" Chazz exclaimed a little too loudly, earning him some stern looks from the nurse's passing by the waiting area that he and the others were in.

"Chazz will you stop yelling like that; the nurses will think you've lost it and try to admit you under being insane." Alexis scolded her huffing friend while shaking her head. Boys; she thought as she too turned her attention to the teal headed boy on the floor.

Alexis was really worried that Jesse was in a complete state of shock. If not even Chazz could scare him out of the shocked induced trance he had entered then what could they do? Jaden's parents would be there in a few hours and they would probably have a lot of questions about what has been going on; and since Jesse was the one that could usually be found around Jaden the most, they would need him running on all cylinders. But how to snap him out of it was the big question right now and then keep him out of it would be the even bigger question for later.

Alexis turned around just in time to see Chazz squishing nothing in his hands while muttering threats. She assumed that it was the Ojama brothers or at least one of them that were in his hands.

Alexis sighed; she wished she could see duel spirits. Maybe if she could then she would have been able to stop this from happening; or at least been able to help with the aftermath of Jaden's problems.

Alexis had an ache in her throat when she thought of Jaden as she looked off into the direction of his room. Jim hadn't come back and neither had Axel so she could only assume that they were still with Jaden; probably acting out some kind of plan or something like that. Hopefully they could do something because they were running out of options here.

Alexis turned her attention back to Jesse just in time to see Chazz reaching for the boy's cards.

"Chazz what are you doing? Those are Jesse's cards!" Alexis exclaimed. Jesse's cards were very special to him and he didn't like many people touching them. Jesse would flip if he found them in Chazz's hands. That made Alexis pause. Maybe that's the way they would get him to snap out of it. Just like Jaden, the only thing as important to Jesse as his friends were his cards; or his family as he liked to call them.

Chazz paused at the sound of Alexis's voice before going ahead and reaching for Jesse's cards. He unbuckled the top of the card holster and had the cards halfway out of the slot when a strong hand grabbed his arm. Thus startling Chazz enough to cause him to look up, right into the face of a very annoyed looking Jesse.

"What, are you doing Chazz?" Jesse asked with a slightly venomous glint in his eyes. Chazz gulped and chuckled nervously.

"Well you see…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ya see i had to come back to jesse aventually lol i couldnt really leave him on the floor for the entire story :)
> 
> see ya in the next chapter
> 
> heartbreakerninja


	44. 2nd part to Chazz makes a Rookie mistake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heartbreakerninja here,
> 
> Sorry this is so short. If I remembered that I would have just combined the first part with this section and just made it one chapter but oh well.  
> ************************************************************************************************************************************

Chazz gave a very nervous chuckle. Maybe he hadn't thought this through very well.

"Chaz you have till the count of 4, before I sick Topaz on your butt, to let go of my cards." Jess said in an almost Yubel sounding way.

If Syrus hadn't known any better he would have thought that it was Yubel sitting there instead of Jesse with the death stare he was giving Chazz and the venom in his words.

Chaz didn't need 4 seconds he took 2. One to drop Jesse's cards back into their holster and one to high tale it behind the chair that Alexis sat in to cower.

Alexis sighed. Well at least that got him out of the shocked state he was in. Now if we can only keep him out of it.

As if on cue Jesse sighed and looked down at his lap as depression began to sink back in. Alexis saw where this was going so before his eyes had a chance to glass over again Alexis jumped up.

"Oh no you don't; don't even think about getting into a state like that again Jesse Anderson!" Alexis said angrily as she marched over in front of Jesse and hoisting him up.

This caused Jesse to yelp. He never knew Alexis was this strong? Sure he'd seen her do this to Jaden and Syrus a few times but they were lighter than him. Jaden by a good 15 lbs and Syrus by at least 25 lbs. but he quickly got over that shock and looked at Alexis's fury filled face.

He knew he had worried them when they needed everyone to be strong; but it was just so dang hard for him at the moment. None of them had seen what Jaden had shown them. None of them had seen what Jaden had shown him. None of them knew the promise that Jaden had made him. None of them knew how it hurt him for Jaden to break that promise. And none of them knew how he felt so helpless as to not be able to help his closest friend out of the problem he was in now. It was his fault this was happening in the first place.

Jesse sighed. If he hadn't got stuck in the other dimension when he won his duel against Yubel, Jaden would never have had to chase after him to save him. If he hadn't let Yubel stick his soul in his dragons card Jaden would never had been taken over by Haou. If he had been stronger Jaden would never had to feel all the pain he had to feel. None of this would have ever happened if Jaden had ever met him in the first place. This was all his fault and no one could tell him otherwise.

It was his fault that Jaden was in the condition he was in now. Jesse let the tears fall. He couldn't hold it in anymore. He just felt so lost.

Jaden please pull out of this.


	45. The return of new and old faces

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So since the last two chapters were so short heres a longer one :D

*somewhere back in Jaden's mind*

Axel had no idea where he was. Everywhere he turned he was met with immeasurable darkness so thick you could cut it with a knife. No matter where he looked there was no source of light anywhere. He was beginning to think that maybe it wasn't the brightest idea to jump head long into someone else's head without a clue as to where he was going.

Axel sighed then closed his eyes before spinning really fast and then stopping abruptly in a seemingly random direction. Opening his eyes back up, he began walking at a rapid pace in that direction. After about 15 minutes of this Axel though up his hands and sighed in an exasperated and frustrated manner. [Sorry about the big words folk's lol] This was getting him nowhere fast; except maybe in a circle.

Sighing again Axel took another look around. The darkness was no different then what it looked like the last time he was here except, at least where he was standing at the moment, there weren't any of those spooky mirrors anywhere. But of course that also meant that Jaden probably wasn't anywhere near here. So once again Axel started walking hopefully, with a bit of luck in a straight line, to where Jaden was at or at least where Jim was. Heck even Yubel would be nice; at least then he knew she would know where she was going or any of Jaden's duel spirit buddies would be great right about now.

And then Axel got his wish. Only not in the way he wanted.

All of a sudden Haou's Evil hero's dropped down in front of Axel. Axel backed up a bit as Evil Hero Malicious edge slowly came up to Axel; malice intent dripping off of him in almost visible waves. Inferno Wing wasn't too far behind him. Without a second thought Axel pulled out his due disk gun and fired a few of his fire type cards at them. It wasn't enough to stop any of them but it was enough to cause a diversion so he could run though them and off into, hopefully, the direction of Jaden. His idea was that if the evil hero's dropped in front of him when he headed this direction then Jaden would have to be this way. Axel only slowed down enough to through down his fire wall card on his field in order to stop the evil hero's from following him. Hopefully that would stop them long enough for him to find either Jim or Jaden. As he ran Axel could here other things moving in the darkness. Not wanting to find out what they were Axel pulled out every bit of speed he had and high tailed it out of there.

"This is not what I meant when I wanted help finding the right direction!" Axel yelled as he continued to run forward.

*Back with the Yuki's* [what did you think I would forget them]

Jaden had now been in the hospital for 2 days by the time the Yuki's, with Rebecca in tow, in their helicopter landed on Duel Academy Island. They were just behind the hospital which was situated on the opposite side of the island as the school. The chancellor was waiting for them just outside the doors. As the Yuki's came up to them Chancellor Shepherd shook both of their hands before speaking.

"Mr. and Mrs. Yuki it's nice to see you again; I just wish it was under better circumstances than as they are now." Shepherd said sorrowfully to the visibly distraught parents of Jaden Yuki.

"Please Chancellor, please tell us what we heard is a mistake. Please tell me that Jaden isn't in a...a c-c-coma." Jaden's mother asked slipping into tears at the end. Shepherd look down regretfully before answering her.

"I'm sorry to say it's true. Jaden became very ill which caused him to slip into a coma 2 days ago. He was found by a trusted friend of his. Jim Cook, he's an exchange student from another branch of our academy. He was worried about how Jaden had been acting for the last couple of weeks and went to see if Jaden would tell him what was wrong. When he found him Jaden had been leaning up to a tree and when Jim called out to him Jaden collapsed. Jim then was able to send word to me though 2 mutual friends, a Mr. Jesse Anderson and a Mrs. Alexis Rode's, who then got in touch with me and our head school nurse. By the time we arrived at Jaden's dorm Jim had already had begun trying to bring down his fever. Unfortunately his fever caused him to become delirious and to thrash around when our head nurse tried to do an emergency medical exam on him. The stain that put on him is what she believes caused him to slip into the coma. His body is trying to protect its self and the only way it could do that was to shut down any functions that weren't needed to do so. And since his mind was what was putting the continuous strain on his heath while he was ill, his body put it down to the most basic level in order to do so; which caused him to go into a coma. [Ya not sure if that is how a coma works. Not a medical person so we'll just go with so I say it is so it shall be lol]" Chancellor Shepherd explained. The Yuki's took it all in pained silence as they let what the Chancellor told them sink in. Their little boy was sick, very sick and now had an unclear future.

Just behind where the Yuki's where standing, Rebecca stood listening silently to what Shepherd said. It hurt her to see the state her employers were in. she had only met Jaden a few times when he was younger. Her grandfather had worked with his parents on a project once. It was around the time she had just given up her teddy and had gotten her glasses. Jaden had been on summer vacation from school and was sitting in the lobby with his cards. It was after his memory loss so his parents were keeping him close by for a while. She had come along with her grandfather out of boredom and was at that time roaming around the halls when she had found him.

*flash back* [can you tell that I love these lol]

Rebecca was bored out of her mind! She thought going with her grandfather to his meeting with the people he was working with would be exciting but it turned out to be boring. So she had decided to explore a little. As she rounded the 6th hallway she ended up in what look like a lobby. Sitting by himself on the floor was a boy about 3 years younger than her. Curious she moved closer to find out that he was playing with duel monster cards. Excited to find someone else who played the game she loved so much she plopped right down in front of him to challenge him to a duel.

"Hi my names Rebecca and I challenge you to a duel." She proclaimed loudly; slightly startling the child that she had challenged. And to her delight the boy smiled broadly and nodded.

"Sure I never back down to a duel! My names Jaden by the way; now get your game on!" Young Jaden proclaimed just as loudly.

They had an exciting duel that went back and forth for a good long while; neither player gaining or losing any ground until Jaden played his trump card to come out on top. At that moment Jaden had his field spell Skyscraper out with both Avian and Burstsinatrix in attack mode. While Rebecca had Fire Sorcerer in defense mode and another monster card face down in defense mode.

"Alright I play polymerization to fuse Elemental Hero's Avian and Burstsinatrix, in order to summon Elemental Hero Flame Wingman! Now wingman attacks your Sorcerer!" Jaden said excitedly.

"So what even if you destroy her she's in defense mode which means I take no damage." Rebecca said with a smirk only for it to fall when Jaden chuckled with a big grin on his face.

"Sorry but Wingman has a special effect. You see when he destroys a monster and sends it to the grave yard; he can attack your life points directly equal to the attack of the destroyed monster. Meaning game over!" Jaden said happily to his stunned and defeated opponent.

"Wow I actually lost." Rebecca said. No one had beaten her since forever. She was the champion of the junior league and had just been beaten by a kid 3 years younger than her. But it had been and awesome duel and she had a lot of fun so she had no regrets. "Great duel Jaden I hope I can play against your again some time."

"Sure that would be awesome." Jaden said smiling broadly as always.

After that Rebecca's grandfather had come looking for her because they had to go home. But she promised herself that she would practice till she could beat Jaden the next time she saw him.

*end of flash back*

Unfortunately she never did get to duel him again; and by the time she was employed by his parents Jaden had already gone off to duel academy for his first year.

Come on Jaden you have to pull through this you still owe me a rematch. Rebecca thought as she followed Jaden's parents and Chancellor Shepherd into the hospital.

*back with Alexis and Jesse and the rest of the gang*

Alexis was taken aback by Jesse sudden tears. She hadn't been expecting that. Things were really all messed up. Slowly she let go of Jesse.

"Jesse I'm sorry I didn't mean to hurt you." Alexis apologized quietly. Jesse sniffled and then shook his head before wiping way his tears.

"N-no; it's not your fault Alexis its mine. Everything is on me." Jesse said not able to look his friend in the eye. Alexis gave him a questioning look.

"Jesse what do you mean?" Alexis asked gently.

"All of this; everything that's happen to us from the time this year started to now is all my fault. If I... if I hadn't come here Yubel would never have used me to get Jaden into the other dimension. If I hadn't come Jaden would never had to chase after me. If I wasn't so weak I would have been able to stop her from trapping me in rainbow dragon's card and she wouldn't have taken control of my body and hurt Jaden. If I hadn't…" Jesse rambled on till Alexis cut him off

"JESSE! Jesse please, stop this. None of this is your fault. You didn't cause Yubel to come after Jaden. Plus if you hadn't been here we wouldn't have been able to escape the first dimension we were trapped in. It was your dragon card that got us out of there in the first place. And even if we found another way out Yubel could have got a hold of anyone of us and used that person against Jaden." Alexis exclaimed at Jesse grabbing his shoulders and gave him a quick shake to get his attention. She then loosened her grip as her eyes softened before she continued. "Jesse how could you believe that any of this was your fault? If anyone is to blame its Haou himself; not yours, not Jaden's, not anybodies but Haou's. Now please, stop this and pull it together. Jaden needs you now more than ever. He needs all of us to be strong." Alexis said. She and Jesse stared at each other for a few seconds before Jesse finally looked down and nodded.

"sorry." Jesse finally said before taking a quick peek at Alexis between his bangs. Alexis sighed then playfully wacked him behind the head.

"Dumpy; don't scare us like that. Now come on the Yuki's will be here any minute; we better be ready to see them. They're going to have a bunch of questions for us when they arrive.

Jesse nodded again as he followed Alexis, Chaz, and Syrus out towards the main lobby with Atticus and Hassleberry not far behind.


	46. Chance encounters with an elevator door

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey there heartbreakerninja her :)
> 
> soooooo sorry this took so long and for it to be short ta boot but i promise there is a method behind my madness i promise...at least i hope there's a method behind my madness...*mumbles about madness and wanting chocolate before snapping back to reality* ANYWAY lol this is kind of one of those moving the story into position chapters. im trying to get this story out of the dialog and back to jaden but i got so many side plots going on that i'm having a little bit of difficulty of getting it there but at least axel in the last chapter has go me going in the right direction SOOO hopefully we will get this story rolling around to the home stretch soon. we've made it past first base so rounding for second shouldn't be to long now [wow i just made 3 sport puns in one sentence lol]
> 
> anyway i hope you like this chapter please review to let me know what ya think :)
> 
> see ya in the next chapter
> 
> heartbreakerninja

*back with the chancellor and the Yuki's*

The chancellor held the door as Jaden's parents and Rebecca came through. He was just coming up behind them when his phone rang. Pulling it out and then reading the ID he saw, to his horror and dread, that it was his boss Seto Kiaba. The chancellor looked up towards the Yuki's, who were waiting for the elevator, before looking back down at his phone. Oh snap; that was all he could think of at that moment as the elevator door started to open.

*back with Alexis and the gang*

The gang slowly made their way to the elevator area each lost in their own thoughts as they came to a stop in front of the closest one.

Alexis looked around the group beside her. Chazz was being Chazz, hiding his emotions under a facade of superiority. Hassleberry looked to be still in a state of shock, as he wasn't being anywhere near his usual outspoken boisterous self. Her brother Atticus seemed to be laid back but still had a look of sadness around him. She knew he was upset that their friend was in danger and couldn't do anything about it, but she also knew that he had never really came to terms with what happened back in the other dimension. She suspected that it had brought a lot of his own dark memories back to the surface and he wasn't ready to face them head on just yet. Syrus seemed to be in the worst condition next to Jesse. He seemed to be in a complete and entire state of lost. He had been clinging to her side since all this started 2 days ago. On top of being stressed with regular school stuff he was dealing with how his brother was missing still and now his best friend was fighting for his life in a coma. The poor kid was more than a bit shaken by all this. Jesse was the one she was really worried about at the moment though. As said earlier he was the worst condition out of all her friends. Alexis thought back to what Jesse had told her earlier. How could he even think that all this was his fault! This whole mess was totally out of control. She herself didn't know how much she could take of this. It felt like the at any moment someone was going to say or do something and that would be it she would totally break and then how could she help Jesse and even more how would she be there for Jaden?

Alexis sighed before looking back at Jesse who seemed to be in his own world at that moment. He looked so sad and defeated and so overwhelmed that Alexis just wished she could do something, anything to make all this go away and return to way it use to be.

Flashes of the pictures on her computer came back to her along with the one with Jaden holding Pharaoh in his arms while wearing that contagious smile of his. Oh how she missed those times. Even if they had crazy people shadow dueling them at least Jaden was usually smiling and happy to duel. At least then everything wasn't after Jaden. Every other enemy that they had ever faced was after the world. How do you defeat an enemy you couldn't even see?

The ding of the elevator snapped Alexis out of her thoughts as they all entered and Chazz hit the first floor button. They were on the 8th floor so it would take a little while but not too long. Jaden would have been on the 3rd floor if he hadn't been taken by helicopter. The 3rd floor was usually used for hurt duelist from the Academy; but since Jaden came in from the roof on the helicopter he was taken into the top floor since this was sort of an emergency.

Soon the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened.

"Oh; well this helps out a lot." Alexis and the gang heard the chancellor say from behind the couple in front of them. A couple that looked just like a dear friend of theirs.


	47. Life's Twisted that way

*back with the Chancellor*

Chancellor Shepherd watched as the Yuki's and their assistant went up the elevator with all of Jaden's friends, before returning to his still ringing cell phone. It was Kiaba that he knew for sure. He was also very reluctant to answer. He didn't know how much Kiaba knew already or what Pegasus could have told him.

If he answered it he could be in for the longest phone call of his life. Kiaba was not one to believe in magic and duel spirits and the like. Trying to explain Jaden's plight was not going to be easy. Then again if he didn't answer it he could, and most likely would, lose his job for leaving his very powerful employer in the dark. Ya not the best options in the world. Though, to be fair, Kiaba already knew that he believed in magic and the duel sprit realm well before he even hired him years ago.

Sighing tiredly Chancellor Shepherd opened the cell phone.

"Shepherd here."

*back with the gang*

The elevator ride was definitely a quiet one. Looking around at the people in the elevator one word came to mind to Chazz. Awkward. If there was ever a moment in which they needed Jaden there as an ice breaker this was it. Of course Jesse would have been good to but at this moment he was more than out of it.

Chazz let out a quiet but deep sigh. This was gonna be an interesting conversation; if they could ever get it actually started. Usually he himself wasn't that bad at breaking ice but this was too delicate a situation for brashness. So he would have to keep quiet on this one.

Alexis was thinking the same thing. Their group just wasn't the same without Jaden. He really was an essential member of the gang. He was the glue that stuck them together. He was the one, after all, that had brought them all together. He met Syrus then he went and brought Alexis herself in then he became Chazz's rival making him part of the group as well. Bastion came next. Not even his super smart brain couldn't resist Jaden's friendly smile. It didn't take much to add her brother Atticus.

The next year just beating Hassleberry at a duel won him over pretty quickly. She never really was sure how Aster became a part of the gang but he did and just like always Jaden welcomed him in like he always did. Same thing happened in the third year with Jim, Axel and finally Jesse. Jesse and Jaden were 2 of a kind that was for sure. If it wasn't for the accent and the teal hair they would have been twins. Then it really would be hard press to tell the difference between the two.

Alexis looked over at Jesse who was closest to the doors and farthest from the Yuki's who were to the far right of her in the back. She figured Jesse must still be blaming himself and didn't want to be too close to Jaden's parents. Alexis let out a heavy but quiet sigh before shaking her head. Between Jesse and Jaden she had her hands full. One or the other was always blaming themselves for the others predicament and it had to change fast before they put themselves in to depression. One way or another she was gonna have to fix that.

Rebecca looked around at the people in the elevator. These were the people that were closest to Jaden. They were definitely a unique looking bunch. She also could feel the awkwardness in the space they were in. no one spoke or even tried to. As far as she could see they didn't know what to say to the parents of their close friend that they had never met. Plus the situation they were all thrown into as well and the cause of their meeting didn't help much either.

Atticus also could feel and see the tension and awkwardness around them. He wanted to help, but how? Than an idea popped into his head that made him grin. It was stupid but so were all his other ideas and at least it would get things moving. Shocked looks where sure to follow but he didn't care. Alexis was gonna kill him but he could live with that. Zane would probably do the same if he was there but he wasn't so nothing was stopping him. Taking a deep breath he just went with it.

"So, you're all probably all wondering why I have gathered you all here today."

*Back with Axel*

Axel continued to run through the dark corridors of Jaden's mind for what seemed like hours. In his plight, however, he kept forgetting to look where he was going and kept watching what was behind him; or what could have been behind him since the sounds and monsters had stopped a long while ago. Plus if he had been watching in front of him, he would have seen the lone mirror he was about to crash right through. But since he didn't he did end up crashing though it; screaming all the way.

The impact caused him to lose his balance and he ended up tumbling across the ground, as the mirror shards fell around him, head over heels. If anything had been following him they would know where he was now.

Axel laid there on his back, dazed, for a few seconds before slowly getting to his feet. After all that running he was pretty exhausted and out of breath. Only after he was breathing regularly did he take a look around where he was.

There were piles of mirror shards everywhere. Some were scattered around like someone had tumbled through them one after another, while others looked like they had exploded. Looking around Axel could see that there were droplets of blood around some of the mirror shards. A shiver went up his spine. It wasn't his blood that he knew for sure.

Axel walked around the area some more looking for any clues as to what happened there and where to go next. After tumbling through the mirror he had lost his sense of direction and didn't know where to head next.

Suddenly Axel saw something in the distance a little ways off. Carefully walking towards it Axel saw that it was another mirror. As he got closer he could see that something was off about it. The surface was shifting or something. Throwing caution to the wind, Axel stood in front of the mirror. He'd seen what these things could do first hand and he didn't feel like seeing it again.

But what Axel saw in the mirror shocked him. It wasn't anything like the last time it was like looking into a window. Looking closely Axel's eyes widened.

"Jim!" Axel yelled as he noticed his friend standing there staring at something in the distance. Beside him was none other than the duel spirit Yubel. Somehow that was not all that surprising to Axel. Unfortunately neither seemed to be able to hear him.

Suddenly the view shifted as if answering the unasked question that was on Axels mind. That's when it showed a figure that had been a part of Axel's nightmares for quite a while. Haou sat on a dark throne with mirrors all around him. And at his side sat none other than Jaden himself. This of course made Axels blood run cold.

Jaden didn't look anything like Jaden usually did. He just sat there with his eyes, that horrible golden yellow, staring blankly forward. His body was slightly leaned against Haou's leg. If he didn't know any better Axel would have thought he was staring at a life sized doll and not one of his best friends. If it wasn't for the fact that Jaden was breathing he would have thought just that.

Then Axel became infuriated when he saw Haou pet Jaden's head as if he was some kind of pet. The emotionless smirk on Haou's face made him see red.

All Axel could think was that this was so wrong and why wasn't Jaden fighting back? What had Haou done to him?

Then the mirror, as if to answer Axel's unspoken questions, once again shifted. This time it showed Jaden floating limply in complete darkness.

What the heck? Was all that Axel could think. Wasn't Jaden just sitting beside Haou? What happened?

Axel watched as Jaden open and closed his eyes and shift around. This Jaden was nothing like the doll state he had just seen moments before. Then it clicked. He was watching what Jaden was really seeing, or dreaming. Axel grabbed the sides of the mirror before trying to shake it, as if that would help get to Jaden any faster.

"JADEN! Jaden wake up! Jaden you got to snap out of it! Do you hear me? WAKE UP; SNAP OUT OF IT!" Axel screamed at the mirror, forgetting about the duel spirits that had been chasing him earlier, as his voice echoed around the empty darkness.

"That won't work. You can't use the mirrors other than as a window. They aren't yours to command." A deep voice said from behind Axel, causing him to spin around grabbing for his deck and duel disk.

A tall figure stood in the darkness. Axel grabbed the first card in his deck about to use it till the figure came forward and Axel saw who it was. Axel lowered his hand from his duel disk slowly, card still in hand.

"Why am I not surprised you're here." Axel said relief, sarcasm, and shock mixing together as the words left his mouth.

The figure chuckled darkly before coming forward.

"Life's twisted that way."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehe so who is this dark figure that axel recognizes? any guesses?
> 
> hope you enjoyed this chapter
> 
> see ya in the next chapter
> 
> heartbreakerninja


	48. Get your game on!

*still with Axel*

"Life's twisted that way." Zane said as he came out of the shadows.

Axel looked him up and down before putting his top card back in his deck; but didn't put the duel disk away. Instead he attached it to his arm in the ready position. Zane cracked a dark smirk.

"What don't trust me Axel?" Zane sneered mockingly before walking passed Axel and going up to the mirror still showing Jaden; only it was back to him and Haou.

"You want the truth or should I sugar coat it?" Axel snapped back, rolling his eyes, as he crossed his arms and stared down Zane's back. Zane ignored the comment. He had heard worst.

He turned his focus on the doll like boy in the mirror. Though Zane had closed off his emotions, Jaden's plight still hurt him like it did for the rest of Jaden's friends. Jaden was a fighter and as far as Zane was concerned he had proved himself to every enemy that had ever had the misfortune to cross Jaden's path. There shouldn't be a reason for him to be continually tested by divine intervention, or fate, or whatever. Jaden was good he had defeated his darkness; unlike Zane himself. Zane shook off the thought; now was not the time to be dealing with that, Jaden was what mattered at this moment and he needed to focus on this.

Axel watched the conflicting emotions cross Zane's face before he covered them up. He was curious about this but didn't comment. It wasn't the time to deal with Zane's issues. There wouldn't be time anyway; it'd take forever just to get under the first layer. Axel shook off the smirk that tried to cross his face when a thought caused him to pause and look back at Zane. Why or even how did Zane get here?

Axel looked down at the ground trying to figure out how this was even possible. Jaden and Haou are one thing Zane was a total different matter all together. Jaden and Haou are systematically the same person, in a twisted twilight zone like way, while Zane was not even related. So how pray tell did he get in Jaden's head? Of course Axel was going to find out like now.

Unfortunately he didn't get the chance. Axel turned as he heard a ruckus behind him. Apparently the duel monsters had tracked their location. Probably from Axel's earlier screaming when he flew through the mirror.

"Shoot." Axel exclaimed putting his duel disk in the ready position and pulling his hand and then his first card to the ready.

"Well that's gonna be interesting." Zane said with a smirk; though it was a grim smirk as he pulled a duel disk out of thin air. He put it also into the ready position before pulling out his hand and then drawing his first card.

"Let's hope this isn't our last stand" Zane yelled as he summoned his first monster; Axel nodding in grim agreement.

*back with Jim and Yubel* [told ya we'd get to them again lol]

Jim stared angrily from his hiding spot at Haou. He could tell that Haou wasn't at all oblivious to the fact that he and Yubel were hiding not that far from him. This was Jaden mind after all.

Thinking of Jaden made Jim turn to look at the small boy beside Haou. It brought a pained look to Jims face as he watched him sit there unmoving. It just wasn't right; nor was it fair what so ever. Jaden didn't deserve any of this. Yes he had made some mistakes in the past but everyone makes mistakes.

Haou's dark chuckles brought Jim out of his musings. Looking up he could see Haou looking directly in their direction; his horrible yellow golden eyes staring out at them with a look of dark amusement. It shocked Jim a little since he had always remembered Haou having seemingly emotionless hard eyes. He didn't like these eyes any better. If anything they made Haou even more intimidating then he already was.

"Well well well; look who's finally come to the rescue. Have you come to try and awaken him?" Haou didn't have to say who the "him" was; they all knew to whom he was referring to.

"You're not getting away with this again Haou. We've stopped you once and we'll do it again." Jim yelled out furiously. His anger was making his hands shake and his eye glow brighter. Haou just smirked.

"You got me shaking in my boots Jim." Haou said mockingly; holding on to Jaden possessively. Jim grit his teeth.

Yubel was the only one to stay silent. She looked between the 3 males; indecision clear on her face. What she was indecisive about was any ones guess but it was clear that it was making her fearful. She was practically trembling. So unlike the usual calm calculative Yubel they all knew.

This worried Jim but at the moment he couldn't deal with Yubel till Jaden was out of the hands of his darker half. Jim looked over to Jaden hoping to catch his vacant eyes. Jaden just stared straight ahead not looking at anything around him. Only his soft breathing was any indicator of him being alive at all.

"Jaden?" Jim said hesitantly; getting no response from his friend. Jim tried calling again this time stronger than the last.

"Jaden; Jaden can you hear me? Jaden if you can hear me please answer me or give me a sign that you can. Jaden I know you're in there somewhere and I know you're scared but you have to come back to us. Jaden we need you; the groups not the same without you there. The schools to quiet without you; there isn't another duelist to compete with at your level. Jaden please answer me. Please mate I wanna help but you got to let me first. Jaden? Jaden?" Jim almost pleaded. He waited to see if anything he said got through to the young boy but nothing he said seemed to register. No recognition showed in his yellow gold vacant eyes. It was like he was talking to a life size doll and nothing more. Haou snickered.

"Jaden, Jaden, please answer me Jaden." Haou said in a mocking sing song voice. It sickened Jim how much his voice sounded like Jaden's but had that dark tone to it. Like 2 people talking at the same time with only slightly different pitches. It made him seem even darker somehow.

Yubel looked down at her feet still trembling. Her face was lined with worry and the indecision was still in her eyes. Haou looked her way and smirked. Jim narrowed his eyes; he wasn't about to let Haou do what he wanted. But before he could do anything Haou spoke up.

"Yubel." Yubel stopped trembling and looked up with a start at the sound of her name. Haou smiled, with what Jim presumed was, with a gentle expression. It was anything but.

"Yubel what are you doing? Your charge is over here." Haou said as he gestured towards Jaden beside him. Yubel bit her lip; her wings folding and unfolding slightly behind her. Her muscles were extremely tense; as if she was trying to make up her mind over whether to move or not. Jim eyes widened as he looked between Yubel and Haou and then to Jaden as realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

"Wait Yubel don…." Jim tried to exclaim before getting cut off by Haou.

"Yubel you not going to break you promise about staying at his side are you?" Haou mockingly reminded the distraught duel spirit. Yubel began the hesitant movements of going forward but still standing in the same spot. She knew that she shouldn't give into Haou's prodding but he was right and he knew she knew it.

Now Jim was worried. Yubel was fiercely protective of Jaden. And if Jaden was with Haou then she would have to go to where Jaden was. She won't break her promise and he knew it. Now he knew he had to do something quick before Haou had an important part of getting Jaden away from him.

Before Haou had his hands on Jaden and Yubel.

Yubel looked at Jaden; then she looked at Jim then looked back a Jaden. Jim tried to give her a pleading look but he knew he had no chance. He could see it in her eyes and the set in her jaw. Yubel had made her choice. Yubel looked back to Jim for just a second giving him a saddened look. Jim nodded knowing there was nothing they could do. Yubel looked back at Haou. Glaring, she clenched her fist crouched and jumped into the air unfolding her wings and gliding over to stand behind Jaden.

Haou kept his eyes on Jim the whole time; smirking when Yubel finally touched down behind him and Jaden. Jim clinched his jaw as he watched her; sadness clear in his eye. He wasn't angry at Yubel; he understood the loyalty she had towards Jaden. He knew she would do anything to protect him.

Even joining Haou himself.

Jim turned his head back to Haou when he saw movement in the corner of his eye. Haou got up and handed Jaden to Yubel to hers, and Jims, surprise. He then turned back to Jim and headed toward him. Jim to came over to stand in front of Haou only to have Haou hold up his hand in warning for him to stop. Jim looked at him in suspicion but soon found out why. Haou pulled out his round duel disk and set it in the ready position. Jim narrowed his eyes but did the same with his own. Looks like they were going to go for that rematch Jim wasn't hoping for.

Jim and Haou both pulled out their hand before staring each other down. Neither wanting to make the first move but wanting to see what their opponent would do next. 2 minutes went by, then 5 then 10 then 30 nothing happened but they continued to stare each other down.

The silence didn't seem to bother Haou in the least but it was beginning to get to Jim. He didn't like it; it felt weird. Like all the air around them had become heavy and weak. Sounds seemed amplified; the light breathing coming from Jaden could be heard all the way to Jim as if he was sitting right next to him. Yubel's wings rustling from her nervousness were so loud it was like a bomb was going off in Jim's ears. Yet Haou seemed unfazed by it all. He stood tall and intimidating. Not even a muscle twitched; every once in a while he blinked but other than that Jim would have thought he was staring down a life size angry statue. A very intimidating statue.

A few more minutes went by and still neither made a move. Yubel was getting exceedingly nervous just watching the 2 stand and stare each other down. She looked down at Jaden, who she now was cradling in her arms, whose eyes had shut as soon as Haou had made his way over to Jim. Yubel could only guess that now he was sleeping or something since she had no other explanation for it. But it still seemed weird to her that it happened the moment Haou had left his spot on his throne. Yubel held Jaden tighter in her arms; wishing there was something she could do but knowing there wasn't. She could do many things here in Jaden's mind but waking him from whatever trance Haou had trapped Jaden in was one thing she, regrettably, could not do.

Yubel looked back at the 2 males, still in the middle of their staring contest, with a desperate look. If it wasn't for the position they were in she would have laughed at them. Neither of them had moved a single muscle since the duel had been proclaimed. They just both stood there, tense, waiting for the others first move. Unfortunately the ominous circumstances, in which caused this, took any humor out of the scene before her.

Yubel looked from Jim to Haou watching for any signs that the actual duel would go soon come under way. Close to 45 minutes had gone by and still not one card had been played. What was Haou waiting for? For that matter what the heck was Jim waiting for? Yubel watched as Jim tightened his jaw in a sneering snarl getting impatient with their staring contest. Looking over to Haou, Yubel saw the beginnings of a triumphant smirk. He knew that Jim patience would give out soon and he would declare his attack. But for what Haou waited for was beyond Yubel. Did he have a plan already in the works to defeat Jim? For whatever reasons he had it looked like he was gonna get it by the dangerous look in Jim's eye.

And then it finally happened.

"Arrrhaahh ENOUGH this duel starts NOW." Jim yelled out drawing his first card, showing that he would be making the first move. Haou didn't even try to hide the victorious evil smirk that he had been trying to suppress seconds before. It looked like Jim had done exactly what Haou had been hoping for.

Jim: 4000

Haou: 4000

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so what you think good come back chapter? sorry for all the dodging the duel havent totally decided how im gonna come up with a duel but what ever it comes to it will definantly be interesting cause i have never made one up before and im gonna have to do some major research including doings some duels myself...i just have to wrangle my brother into the idea. lol he's the only other person i know who will duel me lol.
> 
> anyway hopefully the chapter didnt seem to choppy. i didnt do a whole lot of editing to it so i hope theres not a whole lot of spelling or gramical errors in it. let me know if its to bad. hope you like this chapter and sorry its been so long
> 
> see ya in the next chapter
> 
> heartbreakerninja


	49. Dreaded phone call from your boss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We all knew this chapter was inevitable. It was just a matter of when.
> 
> Enjoy!  
> ***********************************************************************

*back with Chancellor Shepherd*

"Shepherd here." The chancellor winced into the phone trying to portray confidence verbally to the receiver. Unfortunately said receiver was his boss and said boss was none other than Seto Kaiba himself. And when your boss is the most powerful, business tycoon, defensive, somber, dueling legend second only to the king of games himself;…well let's just say you don't try to get on his bad side…..EVER… cause then usually bad things happen to you. Shepherd was trying at all cost to avoid that but it looked like, so far, that wasn't gonna happen.

"Shepherd when I made you the chancellor of my school I thought I made it clear that you are to report any and all crises' revolving around our top student duelist to me directly. Especially when said crises' revolve around our number one duelist Jaden Yuki." Kaiba spoke quietly but with authority. His voice was as intimidating as having a duel with Obelisk the tormentor; in the middle of a thunderstorm; at night. [Scary!]

Shepherd swallowed hard. He wasn't scared of many people but his boss scared the heck out of him.

"Well you see sir I was about to call you but the boy's parents had to be contacted and then brought to the hospital and…." Shepherd tried to explain before being cut off.

"I don't care if Pegasus or even Yugi Motto himself came to see him. You call me first and inform me of the situation. Do I make myself clear?" Kaiba snapped through the phone causing the Chancellor to shrink in a bit. He knew his boss would have been mad but still it didn't prepare him for it either way.

"I apologize sir; you are correct I should have contacted you first." The chancellor said, not meaning a bit of it, trying to make it sound as sincere as possible. Thankfully Kaiba went with it a "humph" on the other end of the line telling the chancellor that his apology was as close to excepted as he was gonna get.

"Now as I hear from Pegasus, the boy has entered into a coma is this correct." Kaiba asked, moving right to the heart of things rather quickly.

"That is correct sir" chancellor answered.

"Would you care to explain how that happened?"

"Well…"

"What?"

"Uh well…"

"SPIT IT OUT ALL READY!"

"He's back."

"What?"

"He's back."

"Who?"

"Haou…"' And that's all Shepherd needed to say for Kaiba to get it.

"I'm on my way" Kaiba literally growled into the phone before hanging up.

Shepherd sighed letting out the breath that he had been holding. Kaiba had taken it better than he had thought.

Kaiba already knew about what had happened a little over a month and a half ago. He was the one who sent the scientist that helped get them back the first time around. He had scoffed and scowled at the report when he had read it but had to go with it; since every scientist he had sent himself, plus all the eye witness reports from the students, and teachers that had been trapped in the dimension, the first time around, all said approximately the same exact thing. [Ooh big words lol]

He had begrudgingly signed off on the report, with one of his trade mark sneers, before handing it back to the Chancellor to be filled away. That moment brought a small smile back to the chancellor's face as he pushed the button for the elevator.

Slipping the cell phone back into his pocket his hands touched a piece of paper inside the same pocket. Reaching in and pulling it out he saw that it was a picture of Jaden and his friends laughing at something while sitting in his office. He remembered when it was taken. It was after the incident with the sacred beast cards. He had treated them all to a large lunch in his office as a small thanks for saving the world from the powerful cards. He couldn't remember who took the picture but they had done a wonderful job of capturing the students smiling faces. One face in particular stood out the most at that moment. Jaden's carefree smiling, and laughing face was a big contrast from the one he had before the coma. Every time the chancellor had seen him he had always looked worn and tired. As if the events in the other world had aged him significantly.

At the sound of the elevator ding the chancellor sighed; placing the picture back in his pocket before entering the elevator. A forlorn look returning to his eyes as the smile slipped away and back to the pained frown from before. Hitting the top floor button the chancellor stepped back as the doors closed and the elevator rose.

Sighing again shepherd ran a hand across his balding head as his thoughts came back to Jaden's condition and what he had seen went he had entered the boy's room where the whole thing started. It had only been for a second and he wasn't even sure if he had seen anything at all but….

Sighing once again Chancellor Shepherd shook his head sadly in denial. There was no possible way he would have been there. They hadn't seen him since the incident. He had been missing and still was even after everyone else had come home. But there was no mistaking it. Shepherd would recognize him anywhere

Zane had been in the room with Jaden when he and Alexis had come in. He had been sitting beside Jaden's bed. Shepherd had been shocked when he had seen him that he had to take a double take; but when he got distracted by the nurse rushing in a few seconds later Zane had disappeared without a trace. He still wasn't sure what he saw was real but there was no other explanation.

Zane had been there and then he went poof and was gone the next second; that's all there was to it.

The only questions left now where why and how.


	50. A battle of rage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there heartbreakerninja here ^_^
> 
> sorry its been so long. Life does not make writing easy.
> 
> Anyway.
> 
> One of you guys suggested that i make it real hard for them to get to Jaden...aren't i already doing that? lol guess not so i'll make it a little harder don't worry Jaden's not getting out of this so easily this time. [thats the only spoiler your getting]
> 
> anyway hope you enjoy this chapter and sorry again for being gone so long. hopefully that will not happen again. [though no promises sorry]
> 
> enjoy ^_^

_***In Kaiba's office*** _

 

"I'm on my way."

Kaiba snapped his cell phone shut harshly before carelessly throwing it onto the desk in front of him. He then sat there, with his arms crossed, glaring at the seemingly offensive cellular device. Fate was testing his beliefs again and he hated when his belief in reality was tested. Once, it was Yugi Motto and his gang of tag along friends that did the testing; now it seemed that his own school was doing it as of late.

Kaiba sighed before begrudgingly picking up his cell phone once again. He needed to make a few calls to cancel appointments and rearrange his schedule if he was going to go all the way to Duel Academy Island. But first he would need to call someone closer.

The cell phone rang 3 times before a familiar voice came through the speaker.

"Mokuba here; what's up Seto?"

"Pack your bags; we're heading out for Duel Academy Island in the jet in 10 minutes." Seto said coolly into the phone.

"Sure Seto; but is something wrong you sound a little upset." Mokuba asked his older brother. Kaiba let a rare gentle smile cross his lips. Only his little brother could detect when something was off, just from hearing his voice. Anyone else wouldn't notice any difference; or shrug it off and ignore it.

"I'll tell you on the way. See you in ten." Kaiba said in a somewhat gentler voice, that only his brother ever heard, before ending the call abruptly. He didn't want to say too much over the phone. It wouldn't be the first time that a rival company tapped his phone to find out information that they could use against him. All his employees and his own brother know that nothing of importance was to ever be said over the phone. If he ended a call abruptly saying whatever it was would be answered later, it usually meant that the information was too valuable for others to find out. The same went for the many strange events that happened on Duel Academy Island. His competitors would have a field day with that kind of information. So as far as anyone else outside of his company knew, Duel Academy Island was a completely normal dueling school.

Kaiba huffed and rolled his eyes as he got up and headed for the door, closing it sharply behind him.

'As if that were true.' Kaiba thought to himself as he punched in the first number to the people he needed to call about his emergency trip as he headed down the hall.

 

_***back with the gang in the elevator* [this should be fun lol]** _

 

Everyone in the elevator stood mouths gapped looking at Atticus. The shock over his statement was evident on everyone's faces including the Yuki's as they had no idea who this young man was and what he thought he was doing. Alexis just closed her eyes and brought her palm to her forehead; letting out a soft moan of annoyance.

Atticus noticing that what he had said hadn't had the effect he was hoping for shrunk a little in his spot. This caused him to get a comical mopey look on his face before he started mutter loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Not the ice breaker I was looking for."

Alexis groaned again. 'Way to go Atti.' Alexis thought while shaking her head. Now she had to do Damage control…again. Sighing again she opened her eyes before starting to apologize to the Yuki's.

"I'm sorry ma'am, sir, my brother doesn't always think before he does stupid stuff. But I swear that he did it with the best of intentions." Alexis said to hopefully pacify the shocked parents of Jaden Yuki. Both just nodded silently still not over the shock. Rebecca on the other hand was trying to suppress a giggle fit behind her notebook. The boy reminded her to much of Joey when he was that age.

Mrs. Yuki was the first to stir after the initial shock was over.

"It's alright my dear; I don't think your brother meant any harm. The tension was just probably getting to him." Mrs. Yuki said quietly before he smiled weakly at Alexis before looking at her inquisitively. [Ooh big word ^_^] After a second he eyes lit up with recognition.

"If you have a brother that must mean you're Alexis and he is Atticus am I correct?"

Alexis's eyes widened with surprise.

"Um yes, yes we are, but how'd you know?" Alexis asked still a bit surprised. Jaden's mother smiled warmly before answering.

"Jaden has told us all about each of his friends. It's usually very hard to get Jaden to talk about anything outside of duel monsters, but ask him about his friends and he lights up like a Christmas tree. Then it's hard to get him to stop long enough to do anything else." Jaden's mother answered while lightly chuckling over the antics of her son. His father smiled to by the then as well. He knew all too well how hard it was to steer his son's train of thought away from dueling.

Syrus looked from Alexis to Jaden's mother. This was news to him. Jaden never spoke of what went on away from school. When the rest of them came back from vacation they would tell each other what had went on while they were away. But never Jaden. He never thought about it before; never thought it strange. That while they would talk about what they had done or where they had gone with their families…Jaden never did. Now that Syrus thought about it he couldn't figure out why he had never noticed it before.

Sure Jaden would comment on what the others had done, even make jokes about some of it along with everyone else. But not once had he ever mentioned what happened when he went home for summer vacation. It didn't seem to make much sense but he didn't even notice at the time.

Why hadn't they noticed that Jaden never spoke of his home life? Why had the just shrugged it off?

What kind of friend was he that he never tried to find out?

 

_***Back with Axel and Zane*** _

 

Currently Zane and Axel were holding on; but just barely. They both had taken heavy blows to their life points from the continual frontal attack from the evil hero's of Haou's deck. Some of which they had never seen before.

Presently the life points were as such: 1300- Axel/ Zane- 1050.

They both were exhausted from the fight but they weren't giving up yet. They only had 4 monsters left to beat. Unfortunately though, these 4 were pretty strong.

Evil Hero Infernal Sniper: 2000 ATK/DEF 2500

Evil Hero Malicious Fiend: 3500 ATK/DEF 2100

Evil Hero Dark Gaia: 3800 ATK/DEF 3000

Evil Hero Lightning Golem: 2400 ATK/DEF 1500

Add in their effects and they were a troublesome bunch.

At the moment Zane field looked like this:

2 monsters- both were Cyber Dragons: 2100 ATK/DEF 1600

3 face down spell or trap cards and 1 face up continuous trap: Cyber Summon Blaster.

Axels at the same time looked like this:

1 monster- Volcanic Doomfire: 3000 ATK/DEF 1800

1 continuous trap: Firewall

Firewall and Volcanic Doomfire where both keeping their opponents at bay for the moment, but it wouldn't be long before they found a way around them. They would really be in trouble.

Axel looked over at Zane to see if he had a plan to get out of this. He then almost had to do a double take. Zane had the most frightening smirk on his face that Axel had ever seen. Axel was almost afraid to ask what Zane seemed to be so happy about in a time like this. Seeing the look on Axels face Zane gave a spine chilling chuckle.

"Don't worry Axel this is gonna be over in just a second." Zane answered as he drew his next card. Looking at it his smirk became a full fledged terrifying smile.

"Sorry boys but this battle ends here.

"I play my face down card Monster reborn, to bring back my 3rd Cyber Dragon." Zane's Dragon came to the field giving out an ear splitting roar alongside its 2 brothers. But that wasn't the end of Zane's turn; not by a long shot.

"I then use Polymerization to fusion Summon your demise. COME FORTH CYBER END DRAGON!" Zane proclaimed as loud as he could. Roaring in victory that was sure to come, all 3 Cyber Dragons left the field only to be replaced by an even more terrifying sight. An angry roaring Cyber End Dragon 4000 ATK/DEF 2800 entered the field in a spectacular show of power. But that still wasn't the end of Zane Trousdale's turn.

"Now that I've special Summoned my Cyber End Dragon, my Cyber summon Blaster activates. It inflicts 300 points of damage." A resounding boom and high pitch screams were heard from the opposing monsters as they were hit by the trap.

Evil Hero Infernal Sniper: 1700 ATK/DEF 2500

Evil Hero Malicious Fiend: 3200 ATK/DEF 2100

Evil Hero Dark Gaia: 3500 ATK/DEF 3000

Evil Hero Lightning Golem: 2100 ATK/DEF 1500

All 4 monsters hissed when their attack points were dropped by 300 points

"Now I activate one of my face down cards Cyber Destruction. [This is not a real card as far as I know] when I successfully summon Cyber End Dragon, and had Cyber summon on the field, I can activate this trap in order to destroy all non cyber monsters on my opponent's side of the field. Looks like that all of you." Zane said as he gained a wild look in his eyes.

Their opponents didn't even have a chance to scream as Cyber End Dragon opened its mauls and let out a powerful blast that destroyed them all where they stood. Axel couldn't even speak as the monsters on their side disappeared with the battles end. Zane chuckled lightly before turning around and began to move away from where the Battle had taken place.

"Axel, get a move on, we got to reach Jaden and the others before Haou takes out Jim again." Zane called over his shoulder, pulling Axel out of his stupor. Shaking himself like a wet dog to clear his head, Axel turned and ran after Zane.

He made a mental note never to make Zane mad.

EVER.

 

_***back with the battle with Haou*** _

 

The battle had been raging for a good while by now. None, except Haou, knew about the battle that had just ended not that far from them. Currently the battle was as such:

Jim: 2000

Haou: 2500

Neither had any monsters on the field as they all had been destroyed last turn. Haou had 3 face down cards in his spell and trap card zone while Jim had 4. Only Haou's Dark fusion was face up on the field.

Yubel was still clutching Jaden closely; waiting for the chance to bolt with her charge if given the chance. She glanced down at Jaden, who still looked to be sleeping, before glancing back at the battle. It was Haou's turn.

"Please Jim; you must hurry; before Jaden's state becomes any worse." Yubel whispered too quietly for anyone to hear her.

"My draw." Haou spoke as he drew his next card to start off his turn. Barely glancing at it he placed it in his hand.

Jim tensed waiting for what would come next. Haou's deck slightly mirrored Jaden's with the exceptions of dark fusion, not having any Neo-Spacian's, and not having Winged Kuriboh or Yubel. There shouldn't be anything in his deck that would surprise him as long as he didn't play Super Polymerization while Jim himself had monsters on his field. That trump card would easily turn the tides of this battle in Haou's favor.

No matter what monster he had on his field.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what you think? To cheesy? Did the battle sequences seem alright; or should i elaborate more? Let me know cause i like reading your reviews. they make me happy ^_^
> 
> see ya in the next chapter
> 
> heartbreakerninja


	51. A Mothers Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two Chapters in one day! It must be an Easter miracle......nah actually had some time to work on this actually.

_***Still with the battle between Haou and Jim*** _

 

Haou looked at his hand for just a second before placing a monster face down in defense mode. Giving no indication of continuing; Jim took that as his cue to make his move.

"My draw." Jim spoke sharply.

He relaxed the tension in his shoulders just a bit before drawing his card. Looking at the card he gave a shocked gasp; his eyes becoming wide as he stared at the card he had just drawn. Yubel looked at him bizarrely, wondering if he had lost hold of his senses or if the tension had finally gotten him. Even Haou raised a questioning eye brow.

Jim didn't give either of them any notice. The shock of pulling that particular card had him speechless. He hadn't gotten it that long ago and had liked it instantly when he bought it. The problem was though that he had never stuck it in his deck yet. With all the craziness going on he hadn't had time. So how pray tell had it gotten into his deck?

The card he had drawn was called Fossilfication [not a real card as far as I know] and it had one interesting effect. By discarding a level 4 earth type monster from his deck, grave yard, and hand he could activate its effect. It was a continuous spell that after every battle sequence the owner of the destroyed monster took 200 points of damage while the other person took 100 points of damage for the attack. A double edge sword if not used correctly.

The great thing about this, though, was that Jaden didn't know he had this card. That meant that Haou didn't know either. It made for a great trap if he played it correctly because Haou wouldn't be able to counter it. What made it even more fantastic was that he had all the necessary requirements to play it.

Jim smirked before looking back up at the still inquisitive, yet ever silent, Haou. He even still had his eye brow raised in question.

"Alright Haou, you better be ready cause I'm about to bring this duel to a whole new level!" Jim yelled out across the field as he slipped his card into the spell and trap card section.

"I PLAY FOSSILFICATION!"

 

_***Back with the Yuki's and the gang*** _

 

At that moment the Yuki's were talking to the doctor in charge of Jaden's case before being allowed to see their son. They, at that moment, where in his office next to the waiting room. Chaz hoped by the time they were done Jim would have exited Jaden's mind. They had left the elevator a few minutes before but it felt like an eternity ago now. Jim needed to book it if they wanted to keep this Haou thing under wraps.

The Ojama brothers had come to Chaz earlier to let him know what Jim and Axel had been up to for the last 2 or so hours. He wasn't at all surprised that Jim had already implicated a plan ahead of the rest of them. After what had happened earlier with Jesse he didn't blame him in the least. Chaz had already informed the others on the details when the Yuki's personal secretary wasn't listening.

Thinking of the young woman Chaz looked over at the newcomer. She looked familiar from somewhere else outside of the corporate realm, he just wasn't totally sure where. At the present she was standing to the side; every so often giving the doctor's office door a sideways glance. She kept fiddling with a notepad that she had been carrying with her. Every so often she would look down at it and attempt to write something on the page before stopping herself. For some reason the note pad intrigued Chaz. No reason why it should yet it did.

Ever faithful, Ojama yellow noticed that his boss was curious about the ladies notepad. So of course he went over to find out what was on it.

By that time Rebecca had given up avoiding it and started working on Joey's duel strategy. She really didn't want to work on it right now but she needed a distraction and duel monsters had always been a great distraction for her.

Oh how she missed dueling professionally as she had done as a child. Memory after memory flew through her mind of all the great battles she had been a part of; first and for most being the fateful duel with Yugi Motto. A small yet sad smile crossed her face as she peered across the page covered in her notes and ideas on Joey's upcoming battle. It was still quite funny that Joey was asking her for help. Usually he would go to Yugi but said king of games was at that moment unavailable. This left Rebecca for Joey to contact for help. You'd think the next logical person to ask would have been his own fiancé but Joey had never been good at asking Mai for help. The two were definitely a strange pair.

Looking down again Rebecca continued with the unfinished idea of what to do with a combo she was trying to figure out for Joey to do with his Ax Raider and Flame Swordsmen. She had noticed he relied greatly on his time wizard. Though a good card she was hoping to break the habit before someone came up with a counter for it. If she figured out a better in a pinch combo, Joey's deck would become a little bit less easily read.

So immersed in her planning Rebecca wouldn't have noticed the little Ojama even if she could have seen him. This was all fine and dandy for the duel spirit as he looked over the young woman's shoulder. He was quite surprised to see duel strategies all over the page and more one the pages before that, if her constant flipping back between pages was any indication.

Eagerly Ojama Yellow went to tell Chaz about his findings. Maybe the boss would praise him for a job well done. At least the duel spirit knew Chaz would be mildly surprised by his findings. The Ojama thought as he zoomed back over to Chaz's side.

 

_***In the doctor's office*** _

 

Pain and sorrow were not 2 of the things Jaden's mother had thought of when she would think of Jaden's future as he grew up. She had wanted him to be a happy, healthy, energetic young boy. A boy who succeeded at whatever he put his mind to.

He'd always had a smile on his face no matter what was going on. She had never seen him when he was little not giggling and smiling at something. Even as a toddler he would have a big grin on his face. He could instantly light up any room with his child like laughter and large smile.

When he had been introduced to dueling it had been love at first sight. He instantly had taken to the game. Though at the beginning he hadn't been very good, he would continually try harder the next time. Always with a large smile across his face win or lose.

Then that fateful accident that had happened with the young boy that Jaden had dueled against often as a child. After that everything had gone wrong. The kids wouldn't play with Jaden and he had become miserable and sad. Then the card drawing contest and Jaden asking if they could send up his favorite card into space with the cards he had designed. After that it had been the endless nightmares and him screaming long into the night. It had become more than either of his parents could handle. They were so fearful for their young son's future. He by that time wasn't sleeping, had stopped eating, and worst of all had stopped smiling.

No longer was Jaden the light in the room. Instead he was this sad tired little boy with hardly enough strength to get out of bed each day. His mother had been so thankful when that memory represent procedure had come about. Yet she had regretted it afterwards when Jaden had lost large chunks of his memory of them. Still she saw him smile again. He was eating and sleeping better. Once more she had gotten her energetic little boy back. Even though he couldn't remember a lot about her and his father she was just happy that he wasn't in so much pain and turmoil anymore. He had even started dueling again by that time. He had gotten much better at the game and actually won a few battles. Soon he was the kid to beat in his school.

But that seemed so long ago now. Now her baby was hurting again. He was in pain. He was in a coma. Jaden's mother gave a shuddering rasp as tears fell down her face. If it wasn't for her husband holding her hand so tightly, she would have fully broken down long ago. Instead she wiped back her tears and brought her attention fully back to the doctor as he explained her little boy's condition.


End file.
